


Dude, There's Something On The Ceiling

by capnlevi



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-10
Updated: 2013-11-17
Packaged: 2017-12-26 05:34:27
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 15
Words: 24,502
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/962195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/capnlevi/pseuds/capnlevi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spending his summer cleaning and helping his sister move out was not Eren's idea of fun, until a weirdo with some spray and a cloth joined in.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I havent written in ages so bear with me. This is the first fic ive written for about a year, and the first snk one ive ever done, so please be nice, although constructive *preferably* criticism is welcomed with open arms.  
> p.s. so~ because im pretty much posting chapters as soon as i write them, there will be very inconsistent updating from me, oop im a terrible person.

“So, this is it huh?”

Eren glanced over at Armin, who didn’t seem all too impressed with the sight before him. “Dude come on, trust me”

“Eren... this place looks like it’s going to fall apart at any moment”

“Let’s just get inside okay, it’s not like there’s anywhere else to stay anyway. And you haven’t seen Mikasa in ages!”

“Fine” Armin picked up his bags, and followed his friend up to the front door.

Eren knocked a couple of time at the door, and waited for an answer. There wasn’t one. He knocked again.

Armin sighed and dropped his bags on the ground, “Well apparently she’s forgotten we were coming”

Eren tried the door to see if it was locked, and to his surprise it opened right up. “See! She’s probably just out in the back garden or something, and didn’t hear us”

“Yeah...”

Eren rolled his eyes and walked into the house, Armin close behind. “Mikasa!”

Armin pushed the door shut and put his bags down, “Hello!”

“Sis!?”

“Go look in the back, I’ll check upstairs”, the blond said, jogging up the steps.

Eren wandered down the small hallway and into the kitchen, which had a back door leading off to the garden... if you could call it a garden. It was pretty much a few stone slabs and a crappy plastic table. Eren frowned, not only at the shit excuse for a garden in front of him, but the fact that his sister wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

“She’s not upstairs”, Armin called, from up the hallway.

Eren turned around and shook his head, “Not in the garden either”

Armin walked into the kitchen and looked out the window, “Jesus, she doesn’t take very good care of this place does she?”, he said, indicating outside and to the mess littering the kitchen.

Eren was really confused to be honest. It wasn’t like his sister was the tidiest person ever, but she never would have let her place get this bad. He wrinkled his nose when he saw a takeaway box with what appeared to be mould growing on it. “Ew”

“Call her” Armin said, pulling out one of the kitchen chairs and sitting down.

Eren pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled Mikasa’s number. Where the hell was she?

There was only a couple rings before she picked up, and Eren sighed in relief.

“Hello?”

“It’s Eren, where are you? We’re at your place now. You left the door unlocked, anyone could have gotten in. And not to mention you forgot about us coming over. Did you? Or have we got the wrong house?”

“And how are you?”, Mikasa’s sarcastic tone annoyed Eren.

“ _Where_ are _you_?”

“Look, I’ll be back in a minute, I just popped out to get some stuff okay!”

Armin looked up at Eren as he argued with his sister on the phone. He had not missed the little sibling arguments they had. He hung his head back and was horrified when he saw the ceiling, which appeared to have some kind of dried food splashed up onto it. Armin grimaced and stood up, leaning against the cleanest looking counter and crossing his arms.

Eren shoved his phone back into his pocket and ran his hand through his hair. “Well apparently she’ll be back soon” he said, looking irritated.

As the two waited on the front doorstep for Mikasa to come home, Eren was seriously starting to consider whether or not this visit was going to be a good idea. Spending summer in this dump of a place was going to be hard unless they did something about it, and cleaning really wasn’t on Eren’s list of fun vacation activities.

\---------------------------------------------

“Wait wait wait wait wait”

“What?”

“You haven’t even been here?!”

“Oh I’m sorry Eren, I didn’t realise I had to abide by your rules as soon as I moved out of home”

Armin sat in the corner of the living room, eyes darting back and forth between Eren and Mikasa as they argued. It’s turned out that Mikasa hadn’t just ‘popped out to get some stuff’, but was in fact coming back from a friend’s house; a house which she had been living in for the past 5 months.

“You know that’s not what I mean! I just don’t understand why you’d let this place get so gross! I thought I lived in a mess, but Jesus!”

“Oh my God” the dark haired girl got up and walked out of the room.

Eren threw himself back on the couch and sighed loudly.

Armin went and flopped down next to his friend and kicked his legs up onto the coffee table (which was surprising, considering the shocking amount of papers, plastic cups and random bits and pieces covering it)

“I swear we didn’t used to hate each other this much before she left” Eren said, suddenly sounding sad.

“You just need to spend a bit of time with each other again, you idiot.” Armin replied, putting an arm around Eren.

“Yeah I know, I just assumed we’d jump straight back into how we used to be”

“I give it a day. This time tomorrow, it’ll be like you’re both 16 again and living in that tiny apartment with your dad”

Eren smiled and leaned into Armin, “You’re probably right, as always”

Armin grinned and chuckled, “I definitely am”

“I still don’t understand why she didn’t just sell the house and move in permanently with this Jean guy”

“Maybe she didn’t plan of staying there as long as she did”

“Yeah well... I still find it annoying; she could get a ton of money from this place... after it’s sorted out”

It suddenly came to the Eren and Armin’s attention that Mikasa was standing in the doorway, for how long, they didn’t know. She threw Eren a look that Armin didn’t understand and he replied with an eyebrow lift, and his sister nodded.

“Well, apparently we won’t be staying here this summer, Armin” the dark haired boy turned to his friend, sighing. 


	2. Chapter 2

Eren’s back ached like a bitch when he woke up, grumbling as he realised where he was. He rolled of the couch, and accidently stuck his hand in something that felt disgusting. He pulled himself up off the floor and stumbled to the kitchen in a sleepy daze, to wash his hand, not even wanting to find out what it was.

“Here”, Mikasa said, handing Eren a cup of coffee without even looking up.

Eren mumbled a ‘thanks’ and dropped into one of the rickety kitchen chairs, where his sister joined him.

“I always sleep so much better at Jean’s place” Mikasa complained, dropping her head into her hands and closing her eyes.

“How long has it been since you slept here?”

“Like, a month I guess. I’m pretty much always at his”

“Right”

“Anyway, we’ll go round Jean’s once Armin is up, and tell him the plan” Mikasa yawned, and took a sip of her drink.

“Yeah... about that-”

“About what?” Armin asked, entering the kitchen and making a bee line for the coffee pot.

“We’re going round to see Jean later, to tell him the plan”

Eren sighed and leaned back on his chair, “You calling it ‘ _the plan’_ is making it sound really dramatic, and on a more important note, do you really think he’s going to be happy about you inviting _us_ to stay at _his_ home?”

“He is not going to mind at all Eren, stop going on about that. His place is too big for him on his own anyway, so there’s no use in letting the space go to waste. Besides, he loves having me at his to keep him company, so you two being there as well will surely just be a bonus”

“He’s never even met us though”

“I always talk about you two, idiot. He knows that you’re here to see me”

“Well if he even looks a tiny bit put off by us staying there, then I'm out. I don’t want to intrude”, Armin said, suddenly joining back in on the conversation.

“The pair of you need to stop worrying. Jean is a chill guy”

Eren hummed in response, and finished off the rest of his coffee.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Armin finally got out of the shower, (the bathroom was pretty much the only place in the house that was clean, so washing was perfectly acceptable), the three headed off to Jean’s apartment.

When they stopped outside a very fancy looking apartment complex, Armin looked up in awe.

“This place looks fucking expensive” Eren exclaimed, raising both eyebrows.

“Did I ever say Jean didn’t have money?” Mikasa smirked, leading Armin and Eren towards a set of steps which appeared to lead to the top floor of the building.

Armin still looked amazed when they got to Jean’s front door. Mikasa knocked a couple times, and soon enough a slightly-taller-than-Eren guy with light brown hair appeared.

“Oh hey! Wasn’t expecting you back so soon” he laughed, hugging Mikasa quickly before ushering them all inside, without even stopping to ask who the two strangers were.

“Sit down everyone!” Jean said, waving vaguely around his apartment.

The place was huge, and looked like it would’ve belonged to some kind of middle aged, rich businessman. Jean must have been in on a pretty good amount of money to be able to afford a place like this.

There were a few doors leading off out of the main room, one which Eren figured was the bathroom, and another Jean’s bedroom, and then the others he guessed to be more bedrooms. Mikasa had said he had plenty of room for them to stay after all.

After looking around a bit, without being too much of a snoop, Eren joined Armin who was perched on the end of one of the dark leather couches, knees together and hands at his sides, looking rather uncomfortable to be honest. He probably didn’t know what to do with himself in a place like this.

“So guys, what do you think?” Mikasa grinned, coming over.

“Well, it’s much better than your shit hole, that’s for sure” Jean remarked, joining them with some drinks in hand.

Armin laughed nervously, and Eren just looked at Jean as he sat down.

“Right, introductions.” Mikasa said. “Jean, Eren. Eren, Jean”

Jean held out his hand for Eren to take, which he did, if not slightly reluctantly. Something about this guy made Eren suspicious of him.

“Jean, Armin. Armin, Jean” This time, Jean just smiled and did a little half wave at the blond, instead of going in for a handshake.

“So, you’re the adoptive brother” Jean suddenly said, turning back to Eren, who cringed at the word ‘adoptive’. He always hated when people added that in before the word ‘brother’ or ‘sister’. He felt like people were trying to say they weren’t real siblings because they weren’t blood related. He really hated it.

“Yes, I’m the brother” Eren replied, trying and failing to hold back the harshness of ‘brother’.

“Heard a lot about you” Jean said, ignoring Eren’s little snipe, and smirking at him instead.

“Only heard about you for the first time yesterday”

“Eren!”, Mikasa snapped at her brother.

Jean laughed, and once again ignored Eren’s irritated glare. “Fair enough dude”, he said, holding his hands up, “I can tell you’re the protective type”

Eren turned his head away from Jean to face Armin, and gave him a frustrated look. Armin just frowned in response.

“Yo Armin, you want a drink?” Jean asked, holding out a can to the blond.

“U- um, yeah sure. Thanks” Armin gave a quick smile and took the drink from the other boy, jerking his arm back quickly by accident when Jean’s hand brushed his own. He let out a nervous laugh, and opened the drink, sipping it for something to do.

Jean sat back on the couch and put his hands behind his head. “Now, I’m sure you didn’t all come round to just sit here and chill with me. What do you want?” he said, looking between the three of them with a questioning look.

"Well since you're such a good friend of mine, Jean" Mikasa began sarcastically, and putting a hand on his arm, “I was wondering if you’d be so kind as to allow me and my friends to stay here with you”

Jean raised an eyebrow, “How long?”

Mikasa bit her lip and looked down at her lap, “The whole time they’re here”

“And how long is that exactly?” Jean said, sitting forward and sounding more serious

“Eight weeks”, she coughed loudly, and fiddled with her hands.

“Hmm”

“You don’t have to say yes just because we’re here! It’s fine! Mikasa’s house is fine!” Armin burst out, immediately looking down at the ground again after he’d finished.

“Well Mikasa’s house is most definitely not fine. I’ve seen that place” Jean said, sighing.

“Like Armin said, we don’t have to stay here. We’ll clean Mikasa’s place up, and it’ll be fine” Eren said, getting fed up. He had a feeling that living with Jean for 8 weeks was going to break him. The guy wasn’t even doing anything annoying, yet Eren was growing more and more bothered by the second.

“Don’t listen to him! Please Jean! I’ll owe you!”, the dark hair girl all but pleaded.

“I’ll allow it”

“Thank you so much! You have no idea!” Mikasa threw her arms around her friend, who looked slightly taken aback.

“Yeah yeah, it’s okay. And you don’t owe me by the way; your house would be a risk to their health” Jean laughed.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They stayed at Jean’s for about an hour, and then headed back to Mikasa’s to grab their bags. In that time, Eren had added up the pros and cons of staying at Jean’s fancy apartment versus staying at Mikasa’s shitty house. He wasn’t quite sure whether possible health problems would have been worse than having to put up with an annoying Jean for the rest of his summer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So yay chapter 2, sorry if it's a little boring but i just needed to move things on really, more exciting stuff will be happening next chapter!  
> and thanks for the kudos etc so far!  
> p.s. sorry for any typos or general mistakes, please forgive me haha.


	3. Chapter 3

By the time Eren, Armin and Mikasa got back to Jean’s apartment with their bags, it was six in the evening. Mikasa went ahead to open the door, whilst the two boys dragged their stuff up the steps, and they were both panting by the time they got to the top.

“Let me take those” Jean said, helpfully picking up one of Armin’s bags and offering to take one of Eren’s as well.

“I’ve got it” Eren said, glaring.

“Suit yourself then” Jean said, shrugging and following Armin and Mikasa inside.

Eren huffed out an annoyed sigh, and trudged in after them.

“Armin, this way” Jean said, leading the blond down the hallway and to the door second on the right. Armin shuffled behind him.

“This is gonna be your room” Mikasa said eagerly, grabbing Eren’s wrist and pulling him down the hallway to the door opposite Armin’s. “Take a look”

Eren rolled his eyes and turned the doorknob. Why was she so excited? And then he knew. The room was pretty goddamn amazing. Well, to his standards at least. Perfectly clean floors and walls, white bed sheets, dark wooden bedside tables, and a huge mirror-panelled wardrobe. To be honest, the wall of mirrors made Eren feel a little uncomfortable, but there was absolutely no denying that this would be the best room he’d ever stayed in.

His eyes widened when he turned back to Mikasa, “It’s awesome right!” she bounced, and shook him by the shoulders.

“Yeah, yeah it is”

“My room’s great as well! Although I have been staying in it for quite a while now, so it’s kinda untidy, but come and look!” she dragged her brother out of his room and back down the hall to her room.

And she wasn’t lying, her room was just as impressive, if a little messy. “It’s going to be so fun! All of us living together for the summer!”

Mikasa hardly ever got like this; bouncing and excited and _smiling_ like an utter maniac. It was so unlike her usual resigned self. And Eren had really missed seeing her like this. He’d missed his sister a lot. He decided that even if Jean did irritate the fuck out of him, Eren was going to stay the whole summer here, and he was going to enjoy it; if not for himself, for Mikasa.

He left the room, and went to check out Armin’s, which was equivalent to his.

Jean turned around as Eren entered, “So? You like?”

Eren hated himself for it, but he couldn’t help but smile at Jean. The guy might have been an asshat, but Eren couldn’t deny that Jean was pretty freaking awesome for letting them stay with him.

“Your place is pretty cool”

“I can see us having a brilliant summer” Jean laughed, and put an arm around Armin, who blushed and chuckled quietly.

Eren internally rolled his eyes at his nervous best friend, and left the room to go and unpack his stuff.

He went back into his own room and immediately realised that about 90% of the wardrobe space was not going to be used. None the less, Eren emptied his bags onto the bed, and started sorting his stuff out.

About 20 minutes later, Armin came in and sat on the bed. “You’re still unpacking?” he asked.

“I don’t know where to put all my stuff, there’s so much space!”

“Good point. I was planning on leaving my stuff in my bags really, but I couldn’t let the facilities go to waste” Armin laughed and lay down on the bed, hands tucked behind his head.

Eren shoved the last of his clothes in a drawer, not really caring about folding them, and jumped on the bed next to Armin. “I am going to have the best sleeps of my life here”

“The beds are so comfortable, right?! And Jean must have some serious money for all this stuff”

“Speaking of Jean-”

Eren didn’t even get to finish his sentence before Armin shot up into a sitting position. “Yeah what about him?”

“Um... okay.” Eren eyed Armin suspiciously before carrying on, “I was just gonna ask if you find him as annoying as I do”

“What?”

“Well he’s a bit of an asshole if you ask me”

“Eren, he’s given us somewhere to stay, and somewhere more than decent at that. How can you possibly call him an asshole?”

“He just really get’s under my skin. I don’t even know what it is”

“You’ve known him for less than a day, and besides, he’s really good friends with Mikasa, so he can’t be that bad”

“You know what some of Mikasa’s friends were like back home, that doesn’t make a difference at all”

“Well you got me there, but still. All he’s done is be nice to you. Why don’t you ease up a bit?”

“I’ll try. I’m going to be spending eight weeks in his constant company so I probably should attempt to like him at least”

“You should”

“Anyway, what do you think of him?”

Armin looked away from Eren and scratched the back of his head, “Ya know, he seems cool”

The blush creeping up Armin’s neck wasn’t fooling anyone though. “Oh, ‘cool’, is that all?”

“What do you mean?!” Armin replied, turning back to face his friend, looking flustered.

Eren just laughed and patted Armin on the back. “Nothing, Armin. I mean nothing at all”

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I have taken it upon myself to order us all pizza” Jean said, walking out of his room, to join the others in front of the TV.

Mikasa gave a ‘woop’ and budged up on the couch so that Jean could sit between her and Armin. Eren sat in an armchair across the room, and eyed the taller boy as his crossed his legs, brushing one against Armin’s.

The blond’s hands visibly clenched in his lap as he tried not to give anything away. Eren had to stifle a laugh.

“Should be here in about fifteen minutes” Jean stated, as a very audible gurgle came from Armin’s stomach.

“Good thing as well” Mikasa said, indicating to Armin’s belly.

Jean laughed and uncrossed his legs, bumping his knee against Armin’s. “Someone has an empty stomach by the sounds of it” he said, grinning at the smaller boy.

Armin laughed nervously, and didn’t look Jean in the eye, “Y- yeah”

True to Jean’s word, the pizza arrived exactly fifteen minutes later. Jean jumped up to answer the knock at the door, returning quickly after paying the delivery boy. He flipped open the boxes and laid them out on the coffee table. “Dig in guys” he called over his shoulder as he went to the kitchen to grab some drinks for everyone.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By the end of the night, Mikasa had moved off to her room, and Armin had fallen asleep on the couch, leaving Eren and Jean sitting on the floor together.

“So what’s the deal with Armin?” Jean suddenly asked quietly.

Eren averted his eyes from the TV and glanced at Jean, “The deal?”

“Well... he just seems a little reserved. Not Mikasa’s kind of reserved, all calm and collected, but just quiet and... nervous? Did I do something to make him uncomfortable?”

Whilst Eren couldn’t help but feel happy that Jean was concerned for Armin, he still narrowed his eyes at the other boy.

“He’s fine, he’s probably just unsure because you two only just met” he said, firmly.

“You seem fine with being openly pissed off at me”

That was the first time Jean had actually questioned and mentioned the fact that Eren wasn’t exactly being the friendliest of people towards his host.

“I’m not pissed off at you-” Eren glared, “-and Armin just, is sometimes nervous around new people is all”

“Right”

Eren sighed and dropped his shoulders, “If you really must know...” he stopped himself, thinking about what he was about say.

“If I must know what?”

“I really should not be saying this because Armin will in fact kill me if he finds out and I don’t even know how you’re going to react but I’m assuming it’ll be fine because Mikasa’s okay with you and-” Eren halted when he realised he had started rambling.

“Um...?” Jean looked at Eren, confused and questioning.

“I think Armin might have a bit of a... thing for y-”

Armin promptly fell off the couch, smacking his face on the coffee table in the interim, and interrupting Eren.

“Owww”, came a muffled voice from in front of the couch.

“Oh my God, are you okay?” Jean said, quickly by Armin’s side.

The smaller boy was sitting up and looking slightly dazed, half from sleep and half from having his face bashed on the way down to the floor.

“Wha- what?” Armin said, bleary eyed.

Jean looked to Eren, “Yeah I don’t think he’s too hurt, apart from his bleeding nose”

“Bleeding what?” the blond said, touching his face and widening his eyes as he touched blood. “Ow”

Jean giggled slightly and helped Armin stand up, “Come to the bathroom and clean up” he said, tugging the other boy into the hallway.

Eren was left alone in the room, having not really said anything. On one hand he felt like he should go check on his best friend, but on the other he felt like he would be fine with Jean. He realised he hadn’t finished what he was saying to Jean before Armin woke up, and he was just hoping that his friend hadn’t heard anything.

Eren stood up and stretched, checking the time. It was 1 AM, so he decided bed would be a good idea, especially if they were starting on Mikasa’s house the next day. He wandered to his room, quickly poking his head into the bathroom on the way to find Jean dabbing at Armin’s nose as the smaller boy sat of the edge of the bath, still looking half asleep.

He caught Jean’s eye, and the taller boy nodded at him.

Eren dropped into bed that night and fell asleep almost immediately. This fucking bed really was comfortable. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this chapter didn't move things on as much as i thought it would but hey, looks like this is gonna be a kind of slow build-up. anyway~ next chapter with might have a bit of jean/armin going on who knows????
> 
> p.s. later in the story i think Eren is going to change his mind about those mirrors making him uncomfortable *winky face*


	4. Chapter 4

_ ~Armin~ _

Armin was tired, his face hurt, and Jean was hovering in front of him with a warm wash cloth.

“I think your nose has stopped bleeding now” Jean said, smiling at Armin.

“Er, thanks, for er... yeah” Armin stuttered. It was kind of embarrassing getting his face cleaned up some guy he’d only just met because he’d fallen off said guy’s couch whilst asleep.

“No problem”

“So I should probably go to bed now, um”

“Yeah me too. Are you alright now though?”

“Yeah I'm fine, I’ll have a bruised face tomorrow though no doubt” Armin replied.

“Well that’s expected when you face-plant a coffee table” Jean laughed, and Armin did too.

“So yeah, we should probably go to bed, not together, I- I mean like separate, of course I mean separate, what else would I mean, ha- um, yes. Right.”

Jean raised an eyebrow at Armin, and then looked down, biting his tongue so that he wouldn’t laugh. He then looked up, “Your lip has started bleeding again”

Armin touched his lips with a finger, and brought it back to look at the blood, “Oh”

“Here let me-”, Jean held Armin’s hand and went to grab a tissue, but stopped.

Armin flinched slightly at the touch, and then softened again. Jean turned back to look at the smaller boy, eyes meeting properly without Armin looking away embarrassed this time. Jean looked down and wiped his thumb over Armin’s finger, getting rid of the redness and then wiping his own hand on the tissue. He then dabbed at Armin's lips until there wasn't any blood left.

Armin stared at his own hand, in Jean’s, and swallowed hard. He was sure his hands were sweating an awful amount and Jean was going to notice. _He glanced up at the taller boy for just a second and that’s when Jean leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to Armin’s-_

 _No! Stop it Armin! Stop thinking about stuff like that! You’ve known this guy for a day, and he probably doesn’t like you like that! He doesn’t even think you’re a friend!_ Armin mentally beat himself up for a few seconds before he was brought back to reality by Jean waving a hand in front of his face.

“Earth to Armin...” he waved back and forth, “Anyone in there?”

The smaller boy blinked and furrowed his eyebrows, looking up at Jean. “What?”

“Oh you’re back!” Jean said sarcastically.

“Yeah”

“Thought you were a goner then, are you sure my table didn’t do you too much damage?”

Armin gave a small smile, before running his hand through his hair. “Right. Bed. Yes.”

“Hey you might have a concussion!”

“I’m sure I’ll be fine” Armin replied.

Jean narrowed his eyes before nodding, “Well if you wake up tomorrow and don’t wake up, don’t blame me”

Armin opened his mouth to say something, trying to wrap his mind around what had just come out of Jean’s mouth. He settled for a prolonged ‘right......’, and huffed out a laugh as he left the bathroom.

Jean followed him out and stood by his own bedroom door as he watched Armin go into his room. “Good night, Armin” he said, a cheerful smile on his face.

Armin glanced over his shoulder and replied with a nervous grin and a, “See you in the morning”

Once inside, with the door closed behind him, Armin fell back onto the bed and closed his eyes. He was confused and annoyed and even more confused by what he felt for Jean. He hadn’t even known Jean for 24 hours, and got extremely nervous whenever they talked. How was he going to survive 8 weeks living with this guy?

He spent most of the night tossing and turning, not being able to get Jean out of his head.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

When he had closed the door to his own room, Jean let out a little laugh, and smiled at the ground.

He went to sleep that night thinking of what he and Eren had been talking about, because he had definitely heard what Eren had said to him before they were interrupted by Armin falling out the couch.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_ ~Eren again~ _

Eren woke up to a dark room the next morning, which was confusing as it was the middle of summer and he expected the room to be flooded with light. He rolled over to check the time, and it read 9:00 AM, so it wasn’t like he’d woken up in the middle of the night.

He dragged himself out of bed and flung the curtains open. The sky was grey and the window was covered in little water droplets, running down the window and into each other. The first proper day of his summer here and the weather was shit. Brilliant.

Eren sighed and dropped back onto the bed, burying his face in the pillows. However, he was only to be disturbed again by a very loud and annoying Jean bursting into his room. Singing.

The music filled Eren’s room and Jean then proceeded to dance around it. _“Wake me up! Before you go-go!”_

 “No Jean. Please don’t”

“Come on Eren, this is a classic” he laughed, arms flailing and hips wiggling.

Eren turned over and immediately regretted it as he tried to force his laughter down but couldn’t do it. Jean’s dancing really was a sight like no other, especially when this God awful song accompanied it. Eren burst out into uncontrollable giggles whilst Jean spun about, at one point grabbing the other boy by the arm and hauling him up.

“Dance with me, Eren! Dance!”

Eren was bent over, hands gripping his sides as Jean tried to twirl him around.

_“Wake me up! Before you go-go. Cause I’m not plannin’ on goin’ solo!”_

“Oh my God” Eren had tears running down his face now, but he gave in and let Jean pull him around the room, arms swinging.

_“I wanna hit that hiiiiiiiigh”_

Jean most definitely did not hit that high, and Eren mock recoiled in horror, before the other boy forced him back into dancing.

And then the music suddenly cut off.

Jean had stopped dancing, but Eren was still jumping around, until there was a loud ‘Ahem’. Eren spun around to find that a very irritated and pissed-off face had emerged in the door way.

"Do you two want to stop fooling around and get ready so that we can leave for Mikasa’s house? Or do you want to carry on being idiots and we’ll leave you behind?"

Eren went red as he stared at the stranger, who had seemingly appeared in Jean's apartment out of nowhere, and hung his head. "We'll get ready" he said, shuffling out of the room, past the random guy, and to the bathroom. 

From the other side of the door, he could hear Jean yelling, "Don't be so uptight!" and "You're so grumpy!".

Eren was dreading going back out. And dreading having to face this guy, who he had just thoroughly embarrased himself in front of. So much for any hope of a good first impression. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So as you may have guessed, i just couldn't go on with a story line in which Eren and Jean hated each other so this little lovely just broke the ice.   
> also, song reference~ Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go by Wham! 
> 
> and, HELLO first mention of Levi. 
> 
> p.s. sorry for the little tease in the notes on last chapter about Jean/Armin, i decided against getting them together so early, my bad!


	5. Chapter 5

Eren showered quickly and dashed to his room to get changed. He sighed and grabbed a coat; it was still raining.

“You took your time” the stranger said, glaring at Eren.

“Um, I was trying to be quick”

“Tch, well at least we know you’re thoroughly clean”

Eren shot a confused look at Jean, who was standing behind the stranger, and got a shrug in reply. Apparently this wasn’t odd behaviour for this grouchy, short guy.

“Oh! Eren! I completely forgot” Mikasa said, pulling her jacket on and laughing, “This is Levi”.

Eren nodded and glanced at Levi, smiling. All he got in return was a scowl.

“Now let us venture out into the floods” Jean said, swinging the door open dramatically and stepping out. Armin reacted with a little giggle. Eren hadn’t even realised, but it the time between the previous night when him and Jean had been talking, and the present, his opinion on the other boy had pretty much done a 180 degree turn. Jean wasn’t being over-nice and annoying, but just trying to make a good impression on Mikasa’s friends. Eren really needed to stop jumping to conclusions about people so quickly.  

Levi rolled his eyes and followed the other boy out, Mikasa close on their heels, leaving Armin and Eren at the back.

“Um, are we walking...?” the blond suddenly realised.

“Looks like it” Eren replied, shoulders drooping as he closed Jean’s door.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I still don’t understand why we couldn’t go in his car!” Eren whispered to Mikasa as they all trudged into her house.

“Because I don’t want a bunch of soaking wet people messing up my interior” Levi glared.

How the hell did he even hear that? He must have fucking bat-like hearing. “Well we wouldn’t be wet if we’d gone in your car” Eren returned the glare.

“Oh, so walking from the apartment to the car would miraculously keep us completely dry would it?” the dark haired man retorted.

Eren opened his mouth to speak but couldn’t think of a suitable come back that would shut Levi up, so he just didn’t bother. “Whatever”

Everyone hung up their coats in Mikasa’s hallway, and stood around for a bit deciding where to start.

“Well upstairs isn’t so bad, so we could do the top floor first, and then move on after that?” Mikasa suggested, already heading up the stairs. Everyone followed, Eren behind Levi (who seemed _just_ as excited about the prospect of cleaning as he was disgusted by it).

Suddenly everyone stopped on the stairs, causing Eren’s face to smash right into Levi’s ass.

He jumped back, nearly slipping off his step and falling down the stairs, and slowly looked up. “I.. I, um sorry, you stoppe- um, yeah, sorry”

“What the fuck is your problem?” Levi asked, completely straight faced. Eren couldn’t even tell if he was angry or not, so he just bit his lip and looked down.

“What’s going on back there?” Mikasa called from the top of the stairs.

“Nothing. Why did you stop anyway?” Levi replied.

She didn’t say anything back, but just headed off round the corner to inspect the situation. Everyone followed her off once again.

“Right everybody, I’ll do my room, Jean and Armin take the hallway, and Eren and Levi do the bathroom.”

“How come you get the easiest room?” Jean said, hand on hip.

“Because it’s my house!”

“And we’re the kind people helping you sort it out!”

“You offered, remember? I didn’t force you to do any of this”

Jean just shook his head and set to work sifting through the mess in the hall, Armin joining him. “Books in this pile, clothes there, CDs over here and- Ew Mikasa is this your bra!” Jean suddenly yelled, flinging the item of clothing around with one hand.

“Put that down you idiot” Mikasa replied, walking out of her room and grabbing the underwear, “What are you, a teenage boy?”

“Well I’m 18 so technic-”

“Shut up, and get back to work, no slacking you lot!”

Eren turned around to find that Levi had already gone and started on the bathroom. He walked in to find him scrubbing at the sink with a toothbrush. “Get started, brat. We’re going to be here a while”

“Brat!?”

No reply.

Eren sighed and got to work on clearing the empty shampoo and wash bottles from the shower.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

About an hour later, Jean entered with drinks. He was so hospitable, even in someone else’s house. “Have a break guys”

Levi just grunted, pushing the drink away and carrying on with scrubbing. “Well I’ll take one” Eren said, walking over to Jean and grabbing a glass. “To hard work” he said, clinking his glass with Jean’s, as if it was some kind of champagne celebration. The taller boy laughed and after a quick chat with Eren, walked back out to join Armin in the hall.

“You call that hard work?” Levi said, once Jean had left.

“What?”

“You can’t have worked a single day in all your life. All you’ve done this past hour is sit over there in the corner and occasionally throw some things in a trash bag”

That was partially true, but who was this guy to have a go at Eren like that?

“Well, it’s only the first day. We aren’t getting everything finished for at least a few weeks”

“Just do something useful” Levi threw a sponge at Eren and instructed him to clean the bath.

Eren stuck his tongue out at the back of Levi’s head like a child, and grabbed the sponge off the floor. “Fine”

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One more hour later and Eren really was tired now, and getting hungry. He turned to Levi to find him with some spray and a cloth, attending the mirror. Where did he get that from? Did this guy just carry cleaning equipment around with him everywhere in case he found something dirty?

Eren raised an eyebrow as he watched Levi go through the cycle of ‘spray, spray, rub rub, spray, rub, spray, spray, rub, rub’. He internally laughed when he saw how concentrated Levi looked whilst cleaning, brow furrowed and lips tightly shut together as he squinted at the little flecks of dirt on the mirror.

Then, before Eren had time to turn away, his eyes locked with Levi’s in the mirror. “Are you going to do something productive and useful, or just stare at me in the mirror, brat?”

Eren really was getting fed up with ‘brat’ being put at the end of everything Levi said, but he just leaned up against the wall and sighed, “I’m really hungry” he whined.

“We can get lunch when we’ve finished”

“We’ve been working for ages!”

“Is all you do complain like a baby? Just get on with it before I give you a kick up the ass to get you moving”

“Excuse me? Who made you my boss?”

Levi swung around and thrust the cloth and spray towards Eren, “Finish the mirror”

Eren was about to object, but if the look on Levi’s face was anything to go by it wasn’t a good idea to disagree, so he reluctantly took the cleaning stuff and got on with it. To his surprise, Levi stood next to him for quite a while, just watching him.

“That’s quite off-putting, you know? You just... _standing_ there like that”

“You can’t even clean a mirror properly”

“Well it doesn’t help when someone’s standing right over your shoulder glaring at you, like you’re doing to me right now”

Levi narrowed his eyes in a way that pierced right through Eren, causing him to avert his gaze from Levi’s reflection and get back to vigorously scrubbing.

“Better”

“Oh why thank you for your kind words of approval, I will be sure to treasure them”

“Don’t get shitty with me, brat”

Eren groaned, “Are you going to stop calling me brat at any point? Or is this an ongoing thing? You can’t be that much older than me anyway?”

Levi just turned to leave the room.

“Come back! Don’t leave me to do all the work! That’s not fair!”

Levi turned around to look at the boy, “I deserve a break now. You don’t”

“What?! How did you come to that conclusion?”

Levi tilted his head towards the still-dirty mirror and then left the bathroom. “I’m twenty seven by the way” _Twenty seven? Why was he friends with Jean and Mikasa? Did he generally just hang around with people ten years younger than him? Weirdo._

After Levi was out of sight, Eren was actually about to carry on cleaning, until he heard the man finish his sentence with ‘Brat!’ once again, and he threw the cleaning stuff into the sink and gave up.

Screw this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> School is starting to drag again already, and ive only been back about 3 weeks sigh.   
> anyways! i originally planned for Jean to be all angry, annoying and broody but yeah.. he's kind of not. i think fun, sarcastic and jokes-every-5-minutes Jean will be much more fun to write. 
> 
> Thank you for even more kudos and all that jazz! much appreciated (especially my commenters, you cuties).


	6. Chapter 6

“Well guys, I think we’ve all done a good job today!” Jean said, swinging his arm around Armin’s shoulders. The shorter boy looked slightly startled by the contact, but managed not to blush extensively for once.

Everyone was sat around in the kitchen, apart from Levi who had avoided ‘Placing his ass on one of those revolting pieces of furniture’ as he’d put it. He opted for leaning up against the door frame instead, arms crossed.

“Upstairs is pretty much nearly done” Mikasa said, filling up a glass of water.

“So can we have lunch now?!” Eren all but cried out.

Levi rolled his eyes, and stood up straight. “We’re not eating here though. There is no way in hell this place is suitable for consuming food in.”

Everyone nodded in agreement, “Ooooh, we should go to that new place that opened up in town!” Jean said gleefully.

“I have heard it’s meant to be good” Mikasa dumped her glass in the sink and headed out past Levi. “Are we going then?” she shouted from the hallway.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Table by the window! Table by the window!” Jean announced, pointing and dashing over to said table.

Everyone trooped after him and took their places, a waitress came over before Eren could even settle himself. “What would we all like to drink?” she said, smiling at each of us.

Everyone put in their orders, and the smiley waitress soon returned with the drinks. “Someone will be back shortly to take down what you want to eat” she said, placing some menus on the table.

“I love eating at new places” Jean said, grabbing a menu and grinning, “I wonder what they have” he continued, staring at all the choices with a look of concentration on his face.

Levi narrowed his eyes, no doubt annoyed at Jean’s enthusiasm. Eren seriously contemplated how Jean and Levi were even friends. They were pretty much opposites.

There were 3 menus on the table for 5 of them to share, so Armin leaned over Jean’s shoulder to read his, no doubt basking in the closeness it caused. Eren waited for Levi to decide. After a while he spoke up, “Um, Levi, have you decided?” he asked, holding out his hand for the menu.

Levi glanced up at Eren and then quickly returned his gaze back to the menu, “Be patient, brat.”

Eren opened his mouth to retort, but stopped when he saw Jean and Armin snickering out the corner of his eye. He looked at them, and Jean immediately threw the menu in front of their faces to hide their giggling. He probably would have glared at them both if he hadn't thought that they were both utterly adorable.

Eren sighed and sat back in his chair. Freaking Levi. Freaking embarrassing him. Ugh.

“Here” Mikasa placed her menu in front on Eren.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jean was right. The food at Cafe Trost was pretty fucking good, and he had actually had a really good time, despite Levi being an asshole.

It was mid afternoon, and it had started spitting with rain again. Everyone was making their way back to Jean’s apartment to spend the evening there. “So everyone, plans for tonight?” Jean said, leaping in front of the group and walking backwards down the road.

“You’re going to fall over you idiot” Mikasa said, not looking amused.

Jean ignored her and carried on, “I’ve got some beers in, if you’re interested?”

“Well I doubt anyone here is going to deny a drink, so sure” Mikasa replied, grabbing Jean’s arm and spinning him back around so that he was facing the right way.

Jean, Armin and Mikasa were out in front, leaving Eren and Levi at the back together.

It was starting to become a bit of an awkward silence, and Levi didn’t seem to have any intentions of breaking it so Eren spoke up. “So, you coming with us next time we’re at Mikasa’s?” he asked, looking away casually.

“Probably. She needs someone to clean that house properly, since all of you appear to be useless”

“Hey! I thought I did that mirror pretty well in the end!”

“Yes, after I gave you a good lecture about it first.”

“Yeah well it still looked nice” Eren grumbled, regretting saying anything in the first place.

“Stop being so whiney, brat”

Eren’s fists tightened at his sides as he refrained from reacting to what Levi had said. How could this guy get to him so much? If it was anyone else, Eren would have just shouted at them or even hit them.

Levi noticed Eren’s clenched fists, and looked away before the boy saw him. He hid his smirk at getting Eren frustrated, and turned to him, “Why don’t we make a deal?”

Eren’s head snapped up, “What kind of deal...?” he asked, suspiciously.

“If you’re actually good at cleaning by the time we’ve finished doing your sister’s house, then I’ll stop calling you brat”

Eren considered this for a while before responding, “That means you’ll still be calling me that for weeks, until we’ve finished”

“Do you want to take the deal or not?” Eren was silent in contemplation, “Remember, if you win then for the rest of the summer, there’ll be no risk of hearing it every time you see me”

“You plan on hanging around with us after even after we’ve completely done Mikasa’s house?”

“I am friends with her and Jean, you know”

“About that... I still think it’s weird that you-”

“Shut up about that and answer my question. Deal?”

“Yes. Deal. Anything to get you to fucking hold that tongue of yours”

“I bet you’d like it much more if I didn’t hold it” Levi suddenly said, completely changing the tone of the conversation and staring at Eren to see his reaction.

“Err, wh- what?” Eren stuttered, completely taken aback by what the shorter man had said. What was he suggesting?

“You know what I said”

Eren kept his eyes to the ground, and didn’t say anything, although the bright redness creeping across his face said enough for him.

Levi smirked at Eren's blushing cheeks, satisfied with the repercussions of his comment.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

They had reached Jean’s apartment, and were waiting for him to unlock his door.

“So what is this bet I heard you two discussing?” Mikasa asked.

“It’s not a bet. It’s a deal” Eren replied, grinning. He’d forgotten about the previous awkwardness he’d experience at Levi’s crude comment.

“What’s it about?” Armin said, joining in on the conversation.

“If I’m actually good at cleaning by the time we’re done with Mikasa’s house, then he’ll stop calling me brat”

“You’re gonna lose, kid” Levi said, looking mildly proud and shoving his hands in his pockets.

“That’s what you think” Eren replied, looking smug.

“Hah, good luck with that” Jean added, as they all entered his apartment.

“What?” Eren said, suddenly worried.

“You do realise that he’ll be the judge of your cleaning skills right? And we all know what a neat-freak Levi is!” Jean said, laughing.

And that’s when Eren realised his mistake. He had walked into this deal without even thinking of that. God fucking damnit. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so not a lot actually happened in this chapter, but next update is Armin's POV and there is hint of some cute levi/eren. 
> 
> p.s. who likes inappropriate/sexual jokey levi????? ;)  
> p.p.s. thanks again to my new commenters!


	7. Chapter 7

_ ~Armin~ _

Armin was kind of nervous as Jean started bringing the beers out. He never really properly drank before. Well, not to excess. And by the sounds of it, Jean planned on getting pretty out of it tonight.

He smiled and took the bottle Jean handed him and placed in down in his lap. He’d just take it slow, it’d be fine. Everyone else was already happily drinking (apart from Levi who Armin didn’t think did anything happily), and no one would even notice him right?

“Right everyone. I know we’re not all kids anymore-” Jean was interrupted by Levi letting out a ‘tch’ and rolling his eyes, “Yeah, yeah, whatever ‘Mr. Grown-Up’, you’re the one hanging around with us, instead of people your own age”

“As much as I despise most of the people your age, there aren’t a lot of people I know who are mine that I actually like or aren’t complete fucking morons, so you people will have to do”

“Right. Anyway... where was I? Oh yes! So, anyone got any good drinking games?”

Mikasa tilted her head in a thinking manner and Eren took a gulp of his drink. Levi said nothing.

“I’ve got stuff in the fridge we can use for shots by the way and-” Jean suddenly stopped and jumped up.  “What was I thinking?!!!!” he shouted, putting his bottle down on the coffee table and bounding off to the kitchen.

“Eren Jaeger! I have Jager! Brilliant. I am brilliant!”

Everyone gave Jean a funny looking as he came back with a bottle of Jager. “Jesus Christ, Jean” Mikasa said as he flopped back down on the couch next to her.

“I’m so proud. I forgot I even had this” Jean said, holding a hand to his chest and doing a weird fake-crying kind of thing. Armin just looking at him, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

“Really? You forgot? I highly doubt that” Levi suddenly said.

“Whatever. Anyway guys, the only problem is I have a severe lack of shot glasses, so....”

“We’ll just use normal glasses with a tiny bit in the bottom” Eren said, kneeling up to grab the bottle from Jean as the taller boy got up to fetch some glasses.

“Goddamnit Jean, there’s only like, half the bottle left”

“My bad”

Armin had no idea what anyone was talking about really. Like he said, he’d never really done the whole party/alcohol/drunk thing before, and he wasn’t exactly sure how the evening was going to work.

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Armin wasn’t really sure how the evening had worked, or more like he couldn’t remember. He was somehow on his bed, not knowing how he got there. The bedside table lamp was on, except it was lacking a lampshade. Armin sat up in confusion, and felt a weird sensation rush over him. He must still be kind of drunk. He got up slowly but everything still felt like it was rushing around him. He narrowed his eyes at the clock and saw it was 4 AM. What the hell? He walked out into the hallway to find Eren and Levi curled up in the bathroom doorway together. He would have thought it was cute if Eren didn’t have the lampshade somehow stuck over his head. Armin tried to repress a giggle as he carried on into the living where he found Mikasa sprawled out on the sofa with Jea- wait, no. That wasn’t Jean. Who the hell was that? This guy was much smaller than Jean, and had a significant lack of hair. Armin really didn’t want to wake up some possibly angry, drunk stranger so he just left it. Where was Jean anyway?

The blond noticed that Jean’s bedroom door was wide open, so he went to peek inside. Jean wasn’t in there.

And he wasn’t in the bathroom, kitchen, Mikasa or Eren’s rooms. Armin frowned, and went back to his own room. Maybe Jean had gone out... but gone out where? Then he started to worry. What if he’d wandered off into the night, drunk and confused? Armin fumbled around his own room, trying to find his phone, but then he realised he didn’t even have Jean’s number yet.

He sat on the bed, legs dangling off the edge, worry overcoming him.

But then he heard a noise from under the bed and I hand shot out to grab his ankle. It was like a horror movie and Armin screamed and jumped back on the bed, ripping his ankle free of whatever was under the bed’s grip. He couldn’t get up and run away. No. He hadn’t even woken anyone else up. No one had heard. He was going to die.

Suddenly though, Jean appeared in the doorway, a confused look on his face. He locked eyes with Armin, and that was when the blond added it up in his head. There were five of them in the house, plus the random stranger in the living room.

  1. Eren
  2. Levi
  3. Jean
  4. Mikasa
  5. Other dude
  6. And him



Then under the bed must have been.... He jumped up and ran out of his room, grabbing Jean in the process, slamming the door shut and running to the kitchen. He ran back to his room door with a stool from the breakfast bar and jammed it up against the door. Jean just stood in the hallway, swaying slightly and watching the small boy stumble around.

“What are we going to do, Jean?”

“What? About what? Huh?” Jean was evidently still a bit out of it.

“In there!” Armin pointed to his door.

“Your bedroom. What’s wrong with your bed- bedroom? Do you not like it Arrrrrrmin? Oh I’m so sorry, you can swap my room with me, I don’t mind Armin. Or Eren maybe, you two are best friends, besties, buddies and, yeah! I’ll wake him up now” Jean fumbled over his words.

“There’s nothing wrong with my room, Jean”

“Don’t lie to me Armin!”

Armin was so utterly baffled by Jean’s drunken behaviour, “It’s what’s _in_ my room”

“Ooooooooh, what is it Armin???” Jean said, running up to the shorter boy and placing his hands on each shoulder.

“There’s something under the bed Jean”

“We can do this, Armin! We are strong men!”

Armin knew he was in a much better state than Jean was, and he didn’t think Jean realised that there could actually be a murderer under his bed. “No, Jean.” It was like he was talking to a pet dog, “We need to call the police”

“Why?”

“Because we could get killed”

“By what?”

“Whatever’s in my room! Oh my God!”

“There’s not a murderererer in your room Armin” Jean burst out into uncontrollable giggles, “I said murderererer hehe”

“Stop it, Jean! Where’s your phone?”

“I only have my mobile phone. And it’s not a killer person, it’s probably Connie”

“Who’s Connie?”

“Um, he’s kind of short and has like no hair, Armin, I make fun of it, it’s funny, and yes it’s probably him” Jean tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling... for some reason.

The blond grabbed the other boy’s arm and pulled him into the living room, “You mean that guy?”

“Ehhhhhh, Connie! Yeah that’s him.”

“Well who’s under my bed then?”

“Ohh, under your bed? That’s definitely Sasha”

“What?”

“Yeah I think I remember her going in your room before I went out, and I was all ‘whyyyy’ and then she said she wanted to sleep but I guess not in your bed”

Armin tried to keep up with what Jean was saying. Then he punched him in the arm.

“What was that for!?”

“You knew this whole time! I thought I was gonna die!”

Armin ran to his bedroom door, where he could now hear a banging. He threw the bar stool out of the way and opened the door. He opened it inwards. The doors opened into the rooms. The bar stool wasn’t really doing anything. And the door didn’t possess a handle, but a doorknob. Armin ignored his own drunken idiocy and watched as a dark haired girl fell out into the hallway and looked up at the two boys from the floor.

“Why did you lock me in?” she asked

Armin didn’t even answer, or bother questioning her about why she thought grabbing his ankle from under the bed was a good idea. He just walked past her and closed his door. He undressed and climbed under the covers. The night had definitely been a mess, whether he remembered it all or not, and he could not be bothered to deal with Jean or this Sasha girl right now.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

_ ~Eren again~ _

Eren woke up to a mild stabbing pain in his chest. He then realised it was Jean.

“Eren? Eren? Eren? Eren- oh! You’re awake! Hello!”

Eren looked up with bleary eyes, but all he saw was a pale light in front of him. He momentarily thought he’d gone blind, before he realised there was something on his head. “What the-?” He reached up and found out it was a lampshade.

“Where did this even come from?” Eren looked around, as if trying to find the lamp which this shade belonged to.

Jean, completely ignoring the whole ‘Eren-with-a-lampshade-on-his-head’ thing like it was normal, carried on pointing his finger at the boy on the floor.

 “Why did you wake me up? And what time is it and-” Eren paused when he realised his current situation. He was laying in the bathroom with Levi curled around his waist, one leg entangled with his own.

“You two are so cute! I shouldn’t have woken you up, I’m sorry Eren but-”

“Are you still drunk, Jean?”

“N- no, I mean yes probably.. who knows.. but yes, you cuties you.”

Eren didn’t want to risk waking Levi up as he knew all he’d get was glares and more ‘brat’s, and he assumed hungover Levi would be even worse than normal Levi in terms of how easily he got irritated. Eren sighed and turned back to Jean, “I think you should go to bed”

“But Armin went in his room and slammed the door. I think I upset him”

“What? Armin was awake? What did you do?”

“Well there was a thing with Sasha under his bed and then he was gonna call the police and he was lying to me! How ruuuuude!”

Eren wasn’t really listening to what the other boy was rambling on about, and lazily glanced over to the clock hanging on the opposite wall. It read 5 AM. He groaned and tipped his head back.

“Go to your own bed, Jean. You are going to wake up later with one hell of a headache”

“Ugh I know Erennnnn”, Jean flopped against the wall and crossed his arms. Eren just waved a hand, motioning for him to go to his room. The other boy sighed, and stomped off to his room. Yes. Stomped.

This left Eren with his own problems now. And those problems consisted of a passed-out Levi, hugging him so tightly that he couldn’t move.

What _had_ happened last night?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yes, what did happen????  
> anyways, im probably not funny with the whole drunk Jean thing but whatever  
> p.s. and trying to do shots out of normal glasses is not funnest of things to try as you end up getting poured triple measures but yh~
> 
> thankyou for reading, friends ^_^


	8. Chapter 8

It was about 10 AM when everyone started to emerge from their sleeping spots. Connie (who was utterly confused as to how he was even at Jean’s apartment) staggered into the bathroom and tripped over Eren’s leg.

“Sorry dude, I need to pee”

Eren didn’t even get a chance to object, let alone actually move, before Connie unzipped his pants and peed whilst Eren and Levi where still lying on the floor.

“Um... okay?” Eren said, looking away from the other boy.

Connie didn’t say anything, just finished and walked back out.

Eren could hear Connie talking to people in the kitchen, but he couldn’t really see who he was with because if he stretched too much it would wake Levi up. He had been debating how he was going to actually deal with the situation.

If he woke Levi up, he was 99% sure that the small man would be seriously angry. On the other hand, if he let Levi wake up on his own he could be here for ages, or Levi might be even angrier that Eren had happily let him sleep on the bathroom floor with him. 

Eren couldn’t even remember what had happened the previous night, let alone know why he’d woken up at 5AM with a lampshade on his head. He rubbed his temples, trying to will away his headache, when he felt Levi stirring. He looked down to find steely grey eyes glaring at him.

“What the fuck is this?” the black haired man said, sitting up quickly, and almost, _almost_ looking flustered.

“I don’t really- I can’t even remember-” Eren was once again reduced to a stuttering wreck.

“My back is killing me. I fucking hate drunk you” Levi complained, shooting daggers at Eren the whole time.

“I don’t even remember anything though”

“That is not the fucking point, and why the hell am I curled up cuddling you like some fucking teenage fucking girl with her fucking boyfriend.”

Eren was trying to count up the amount of times the word ‘fuck’ had come out of Levi’s mouth in the last few minutes, when his attention was snapped back to him by Levi clicking his fingers in front of his face.

“Are you fucking listening, brat?”

“S- sorry”

“You fucking will be”

And with that, Levi stood up (trying to cover up the fact that he had a massive hangover, but failing miserably when he stumbled slightly and threw his hand up to grip his pounding head) and sauntered out of the bathroom.

Eren remained on the floor, considerably confused. That was until he realised someone was standing in the doorway waiting to use the bathroom, “I don’t care if you just got into some kind of fight with your boyfriend, get out. I need to pee.” Eren furrowed his brows in confusion at the short, blonde girl who had suddenly appeared.

“Who are you? I don’t remember seeing you” he asked, trying not to sound rude, but did anyway.

“Well I woke up outside on the balcony so that’s probably why”

“Oh”

“And I'm Annie, and I want you to get out of here”

“Right, right” I said, shuffling out of the bathroom.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So everyone, I’m not sure I have enough Aspirin going for all of us” Jean said as he walked out of the bathroom with a packet of pills in his hand.

“I asked first!”, Connie grumbled from the breakfast bar, where he was perched on a stool.

“Fine” Jean said, dumping the packet down in front of the shorter boy, and letting everyone else charge (or rather _waver_ over to him).

Jean headed back to his room, and Eren followed.

“Jean can we talk?” Eren asked, walking into the other boy’s room and closing the door.

“Oh Eren!” Jean said whipping around, “I didn’t hear you come in”

“Sorry... um it’s about Armin”

“Right” Jean flopped down on his bed, and looked up at Eren waiting for him to begin, worry clouding his eyes.

“You said something last night about him being angry at you?”

“Yeah... I’m not really sure it was anything serious” Jean began, the worry washing out of his eyes a bit, “I’m pretty sure it was just both us being a bit... drunkenly idiotic”

“Well... Armin hasn’t really ever been into the whole drinking thing, so it probably hit him a bit hard yesterday”

“I seem to remember something about there being a murderer in his room at one point?”

“Yeah... that was something you were trying to explain last night”

“I should probably talk to him, should I?” Jean asked, looking up at Eren and scratching the back on his neck.

“He’d like that”

Jean stood up and patted Eren on the back, “You’re a good friend to him”

Eren couldn’t help but smile at that, “I’d hope so”

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------

_ ~Armin~ _

Armin could hear everyone outside talking away, but he just couldn’t summon the energy to get out of bed. They were meant to be going back to Mikasa’s today to do some more work, but he was absolutely dreading the idea, and just wanted to curl up in bed for the rest of the day.

He was just about to pull the covers up over his head and try to sleep, when he heard a knock at the door. “Um... yes?” he called reluctantly. He did not want to be disturbed. And he was grouchy when he was tired.

“It’s me” Jean said, entering the room and shutting the door behind him.

Of course it is.

“How are you?” he asked, sitting on the edge Armin’s bed.

“Um... not that great you know?”

“Didn’t think you would be... do you remember much about last night?”

Armin was now sitting up in bed, and brought the covers up to his chin, trying to not let them slip down his body, “Not really”

“That makes two of us then”

Jean looked like he wanted to say something else, “Um?” Armin urged him.

“Sorry if I was a dick or anything yesterday, I probably was. And sorry that I... ya know, got a bit excited with the whole drinking thing. I didn’t even think to ask if everyone was okay with it”

“It’s fine, I wouldn’t want to ruin your fun” Armin realised he sounded a bit more bitter than he intended to and ducked his head out of Jean’s view.

“That’s not what I mean”

“It’s fine, Jean. Don’t worry about it. I just want to sleep now and get up at like seven this evening”

“Good plan... oh and speaking of plans, I think we’re all ditching the idea of going to Mikasa’s house later”

“I think it’s for the best” Armin laughed a bit.

“I’ll leave you then” Jean said, getting up and heading for the door.

Armin couldn’t help but feel a little bad, Jean had cared enough to come in and talk to him after all, and he was pretty sweet about it. “Yeah okay... and um.. thanks” he said sheepishly.

“Just say if you need something” Jean smiled at the blond and left Armin’s room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow sorry for the long ass wait for an update, and sorry this isnt a very good excuse for a chapter but ill update again tomorrow with something better so hang in there.  
> also, i think this fic is gonna end up being like 40% armin-centric and 60% eren-centric, which i hadnt planned for but it's happening so~~
> 
> anyways, thanks for reading, please comment etc ^_^


	9. Chapter 9

Jean and Mikasa had gone out together to bring back some food for lunch, and everyone else had left. Armin was still hiding away in his room alone, and Eren and Levi were watching some shitty movie that was currently on the TV.

“Is he actually going to come out?” Levi asked, his voice bored and flat, probably not even looking for an answer from Eren.

“Probably not until later... at least that’s what Jean said” Eren replied, glancing at Levi and then back to the TV. The two hadn’t discussed the morning’s events any further than what they had when Levi woke up. The smaller man hadn’t exactly acted like he’d even thought about the situation, let alone cared about it. But then again, he did pretty well at hiding any emotion that wasn’t irritation or lack of interest.

“Hmm” Levi simply hummed in response and folded his arms over his chest.

Eren felt like he should say something. He didn’t like the silence that was hanging in the air, and although Levi looked pretty content with the lack of noise, Eren felt uncomfortable.

“So... you know this morning?”

Sarcastic as always, Levi rolled his eyes, “I do in fact have knowledge of this morning”

Eren sighed gruffly, “No need to be like that”

“Well you’re the one asking stupid fucking questions, spit whatever it is you want to say out”

“I was just going to say... like... we didn’t- haven’t said anything more about what happened”

“And would you care to enlighten me on what actually _did_ happen this morning that we’re meant to have a conversation about?” Levi was still staring at whatever was happening on the screen, and Eren was pretending to watch, but was really glaring out of the corner of his eye at the man sat beside him. He probably knew full well what Eren was talking about, but just wanted to watch the boy squirm.

“W- well, you know-” Eren couldn’t help with trip over his words when he was put on the spot or interrupted by Levi. It had been like that since the first time they'd talked to each other. 

“Yes, of course I know. That’s why I just asked you to tell me” his words dripped with annoyance, causing Eren’s hands to sweat.

“Well, we woke up together on the bathroom floor” Eren was proud of himself for managing to get everything out without messing anything up.

“That we did”

Eren waited for Levi to carry on, but he didn’t. “Well... did we-”

“Did we what, brat?”

Eren cringed at the word and clenched his fists; Levi was clearly trying to provoke him.

“You know exactly what I'm talking about, stop it”

“Aren’t you cute, getting all flustered at the idea of us possibly engaging in drunken, sexual acts of some description”

“No! I just, can’t remember anything” Eren blushed and tugged his sleeves down over his hands, trying to calm himself. 

“Well no matter how drunk you were, I assure you that you would remember a night with me”

Eren was stunned by Levi’s clear lack of care for the matter still, “B- but-”

“Oh, and you really think I’d let you near me, even if I was completely intoxicated?”

The younger boy dropped his head, and looked away from Levi, feeling mildly humiliated by the other’s words... and maybe a bit disappointed.

Levi didn’t show any kind of compassion for Eren, “Well now that we’ve got that out of the way, I'm going to wake up that friend of yours”

“W- why?” Eren questioned, turning to watch Levi as he walked to Armin’s bedroom door, completely dropping the conversation. 

“Because I’m fed up of him lounging around all fucking day in his bed. He needs to get up and do something and stop being lazy, I don’t care how hungover he is, it’s his own fault for being such a lightweight”

“Well technically that’s not his fault at all-”

“Shut up, brat”

Eren fell silent and listened as Levi entered Armin’s room and proceeded to question him about his lack of motivation for the day.

Eren swivelled round and lay out across the couch, and prayed that Mikasa and Jean would be back soon. Interaction with Levi was becoming a bit much, even if the guy did have something strangely fascinating about him. Levi was a clean-freak, short tempered and rude. He was an asshole to be honest, and he seemed to love making Eren uncomfortable with his words. The younger boy wasn't sure he was going to make it through the next few weeks with Levi constantly taunting him, nevermind actually win this stupid bet he'd made. He was already regretting agreeing to the damned thing.

\---------------------------------------------------------

“I’m leaving”

“Huh?” Jean looked up from his place on the couch next to Eren at Levi, who was pulling his coat on.

“I’m leaving”

“Fair enough... but you don’t want to stay for dinner?”

“In this lot’s company, with whatever shit you’re eating tonight, I don’t think so”

“Well, okay then. I guess we’ll see you tomorrow or something?”

“You will. I’ll meet you at Mikasa’s”

“Right, see ya then”

Eren didn’t even say goodbye to Levi, just quickly flicked his gaze towards the short man before the door closed behind him. Eren still felt sort of shot down by him. Levi was fine with embarrassing and stressing him out, and it was a bit too much for one day. Eren was in a pretty shitty mood now, and he was glad to get some relief from the other man.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------

Everyone was in bed and Armin and Eren were sitting up in Armin’s room, at the blond’s request.

“So what did you want to talk about, Armin?” Eren asked, trying to repress a yawn.

“It’s just... do you think I upset Jean today?” he looked guilty.

“What? No, why would he be upset?”

“I think I snapped at him a bit too much last night, and this morning I wasn’t exactly the nicest of people towards him”

Eren let out a sigh and snaked an arm around Armin’s waist, “I don’t think that would make him upset, and even if it did it wouldn’t matter”

Armin was way too sensitive for his own good, “What? Why?”

“He really, and I mean _really_ , likes you”

Armin blushed and let his hair fall over his eyes, “You think?”

“Dude, the way he took care of you when you messed up your face on the coffee table the other night, and how he came in to see you this morning to see if you were okay... come on”

“I don’t really know what to do, no one ever likes me, not like that at least”

“Well you’re going to have to figure out what to do on your own”

“Can’t you help me” Armin was almost pleading.

“Oh yeah, like I'm an expert on that kind of thing; me and my army of relationship experience will help you out no problem!”

Armin laughed and slid out from under Eren’s touch, and crawled under his covers, “I guess you’re right”

Eren grinned and got up off the bed, “See you in the morning then, loverboy”

“Don’t call me that!”

“Night”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> an update two days in a row, damn. anyway, tension between levi and eren oooo, and poor baby armin kind of coming to terms with the fact that it's inevitable that jean is going to fall head over heels for him.


	10. Chapter 10

Eren woke up determined not to let Levi get to him for the whole day. He was going to have to think like that if he was going to win the stupid bet he’d made with the man. Ugh, why did he even agree to that again? Oh yeah, his own stubborn self. Idiot.

Eren got out of bed and walked over to the curtains, briskly pulling them apart and smiling when he noticed that the weather was actually good. The sun warmed his bare arms and Eren started to think that maybe keeping up a good mood for the whole day wouldn’t be so hard.

That was until they arrived at Mikasa’s house and met up with Levi again.

“Hello, brat” Levi said, glaring at Eren as soon as he was in sight.

“Brilliant” the boy replied, rolling his eyes.

“Come on you two, not already” Jean commented, standing between Levi and Eren and holding out his arms like the two of them were about to get into a physical fight.

Levi just turned on his heel and followed Mikasa into her house, leaving Eren and Jean together, “You are definitely going to lose this bet, man”

“Shut up” Eren replied. He was not. No. There was no way in hell he was going to lose this. He marched past Jean and into the house, more determined than ever.

“Right everyone, let’s get started then. If we start now, we can finish before lunch, and then we can go to that place again!” Eren grinned at Levi, whose facial expression actually conveyed some emotion at Eren’s little outburst.

“Someone’s raring to go” Jean mentioned as he joined the others inside.

“Well someone’s got to be” Eren pulled a huge phony smile and strode down the hallway to the kitchen, “I’ll start on the kitchen today if you want, anyone’s free to join me if they want to, but I think it’d be better if you guys finished upstairs first”

“Um, are you sure you want to tackle...  _this_  on your own, Eren?” Armin asked, turning to look around the room and grimacing.

“I’m making a start is all” Eren replied, still trying to act as chirpy as possible, “I’ll put some music on”, he walked over to a dusty radio, that was located in the corner of the kitchen up on a shelf, and pressed a couple buttons. Soon enough some terrible pop music was playing and Levi was immediately by Eren’s side before the boy could turn the volume up.

“We are not having that cacophony blasting through the house” Levi slammed his hand down on the 'off' button and walked back out of the kitchen. “Especially if there’s any chance of it encouraging you and Jean to start dancing again”

Jean cracked up at what Levi had said whilst Eren balled his fists at his sides and tried to contain himself. He breathed out steadily before speaking up, “Fair enough, I guess you just don’t work as well with a distraction. Get going then; you don’t want to keep the bathroom or that precious little cloth and spray of yours waiting”

Levi turned back and shot a glare that could kill directly at Eren, but the boy just swallowed hard and stared back without flinching. Playing on Levi’s ‘clean-freak’ side was apparently something that really provoked him. Eren stored that away in his mental notes for later. Oh was he going to come up with some good ones.

Levi was not going to find this as easy as he thought. No way.

\------------------------------------------------------------

It had been about an hour and Eren’s ‘good mood’ had seriously deteriorated. He’d dropped the whole ‘smiley’ act as soon as everyone else had disappeared to their own places in the house, but he had actually been in a decent mood. Pissing Levi off and getting a reaction out of the man had really lifted Eren’s mood for some reason.

But now he was getting fed up. He’d been scrubbing at the sink for about 10 minutes straight and nothing at all seemed to be happening. There was still a thick layer of grime covering the damn thing and Eren’s arm was getting tired. He was bored as well.

He glanced up to the clock and saw that it was only 10 AM. He was going to have to wait at least a couple hours until he dared venture upstairs to pose the question of when lunch would be. Eren sighed and chucked the sponge he was using into the sink. He washed his hands quickly and dried them on his jeans (because obviously there wasn’t a clean hand towel in sight).

The mood needed to be lightened, Eren decided. He smirked as his gaze fell on the radio again. He walked over to it and flipped in on, turning the volume up and waiting for the sound of heavy, angry footsteps on the stairs. Eren crept out into the hallway and peeked around the bottom of the stairs, trying to spot Levi. He didn’t show though.

Eren rolled his eyes as he realised what was going on. Levi was probably desperately trying to ignore all of this. He must've know what kind of game Eren was playing.

So the boy decided to kick it up a notch.

“Jean!”

A head popped out from the top of the stairs, “You called?”

“I love this song”, Eren had never heard this song in his life.

Jean bounded down the stairs, giving the other a knowing look. “What are you playing at, Eren?”

“Just a little something... I got bored cleaning.”

“I wouldn’t let Levi know that. He’ll just get all smug about him winning this bet again”

“Hey! Who says he’s gonna win? Mikasa’s always calling me stubborn. Surely that should make me future reigning champion”

“Yes, but you don’t know Levi like I do. You may think you’re playing a good game here, but trust me, you don’t want to get into this kind of thing with him.” Jean put a hand on Eren’s shoulder. “You  _really_  don’t”

Eren narrowed his eyes, “I think I can handle it”

“Well don’t come crying to me at the end of the whole fiasco. I intend to keep my shoulder free of all tears”

Eren was suspicious. Suspicious but even more spurred on than before. If Levi was supposedly a good game-player, then Eren was going to make sure that he was an even better one.

“So, even though I do not endorse this plan of yours in any way, I am prepared to piss Levi off with some terrible dancing” Jean held out his hand to Eren as if they were at a ball.

“Oh, thank you!” Eren called out, directing his voice up the stairs.

This time an audible groan could be heard from the upper half of the house, “Eren, stop being a little shit and actually do something useful, instead of trying to get a rise out of me. And if you do decide to start something, then you are going to severely regret it”

“I'm sure I will” Eren replied. He’d forgotten about Jean now, and had left the other boy standing beside him, looking at him with furrowed brows as he shouted up the stairs at Levi.

“Well it looks like I not only will be beating you at this bet, but I’ll be winning some kind of impending war”

“Don’t be so sure of that”

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“You know what, I’m stopping. And don’t you dare act all pleased with yourself. My arm hurts and I think I'm getting blisters on my hands”

Levi turned to Eren, who was slouched on the bathroom floor, looking at his hands. The boy had given up in the kitchen, causing him to resort to joining Levi in the bathroom again. So far it had gone pretty much exactly the same as it had the previous time. Eren had complained and Levi had complained _at_ Eren. The boy had given up on pretending to be in a good mood, and was splitting his focus between trying to ignore his building hunger and thinking up ways to get at Levi.

“Stop being so fucking dramatic, we are literally going to lunch in about 15 minutes so pick that cloth back up and carry on”

“Once again, why do you think you have the right to boss me around?”

Levi sighed loudly and turned to face Eren. He spoke as he pulled off his rubber gloves. “Are these 8 weeks just going to be you mouthing off all the time?”

“No. I’m not some shitty little bra-”

“Brat. Yes you are. Look, even though I have self restraint, I do not have all the patience in the world. Grow up”

“Stop acting like my fucking dad or something. I’ve known you for what, like 3 days? How do you have so much fucking arrogance around someone you have known for that long?”

Levi dropped his gloves down and left the room, without uttering another word to Eren.

“Whoa, okay...” Eren said to himself, not even bothering to call after the other man.

“Did you piss him off again?” Mikasa suddenly appeared in the doorway, hand on hip.

“What? Oh, I don’t know, probably. Apparently everything I do pisses him off so... yeah”

“Try not to be too shitty to him okay?”

“Why are you on his side!?”

“I'm not ‘taking sides’ Eren. I’m not twelve. I’m just saying: don’t be too much of a dick to him. Yeah he’s an asshole, but you will end up taking it too far and you won’t know because he won’t show it. And then it’ll be too late.”

“Why should I care? I don’t even know the guy”

“Eren” Mikasa was using that motherly, warning tone again and the boy knew it was time to shut his mouth. “Anyway, clean up. We’re going for lunch now”

“Okay”

Eren thought about what his sister had said after she left him alone. He didn’t _really_ want to upset Levi. Could that man even actually be upset? Eren just wanted to get back at him for being an asshole. And he wanted to show him that he couldn’t push Eren around. And he wanted to win the bet. Wanted to show Levi he could do it. He wanted to get reactions out of Levi. That was it. Maybe he should tone it down a little... and just play it off as ‘not sinking to his level’. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bad chapter???? im sorry. ive been really bad with writers block kinda stuff and school and just general lack of motivation but i think i just need to get past this bit and then ill be into the swing of things phew.   
> anyways, thank you for reading, as always please feel free to provide any constructive criticism, i would really appreciate it.   
> p.s. i dont have a beta or anything so if there are any mistakes im sorry, but i do go through the chapters after ive posted them a few times to check and stuff.  
> p.p.s. (hanji next chapter yay)
> 
> woo, lots of writing...


	11. Chapter 11

Everyone had gladly returned to Cafe Trost for some much needed lunch. And they had also returned to the window table, to Jean’s delight. “This is going to be a thing now. This cafe. This table” he’d announced as they took their seats, face beaming. 

“Hey guys! Are you ready for me to take your order?” a brunette woman with glasses suddenly appeared at the side of the table about 15 minutes later.

“It’s you”

Eren turned to look at Levi, who still had his gaze fixed on the menu. He was about to question why the dark haired man had just been so rude to this poor (if not mildly excitable) waitress who’d only just appeared before them. Eren opened his mouth to protest but was interrupted.

“Levi!?”

Eren’s head shot up to find the waitress almost bouncing, her eyes looking wild.

“I’d know that voice anywhere... and that annoying hyperactive demeanor of yours”

Eren was still confused. Levi finally looked up to eye the waitress with a bored expression.

“Oh Levi, it’s so nice to see you again after so long! How long has it been? Three years? We need to spend some time together. I get off work today at 3! We could-”

“Don’t get too ahead of yourself, Hanji”

“Oh shut up. You and I both know you love my company”

Everyone on the table seemed just as bewildered as Eren felt, catching each other’s eyes with questioning looks and then shrugging to one another. The waitress, now Hanji, caught on.

“Well Levi, don’t be rude, aren’t you going to introduce me to your friends?”

Eren was trying to think of any reason that Hanji would be completely comfortable with talking to Levi the way she was. She didn’t even have a hint of hesitation in her voice and seemed generally pleased to have bumped into the man.

“Don’t know if I’d call them my friends” the small man replied, sitting back in his chair.

“Hey! If you don’t want to lose any social life you currently have, I wouldn’t talk about us like that if I were you!” Jean piped up.

This caused Hanji to let out a burst of laughter, clapping her hand over Jean's back, "Oh, this one's good", she chuckled.

Levi ignored both of their comments and sighed, “This is Mikasa, Jean, Armin” he pointed around the table, “And this brat here is Eren”

The boy in question gave Levi an indignant look. “You must be his favourite” Hanji suddenly said.

Eren turned his gaze to the brunette, and she winked.

Fucking  _favourite._  Does he treat all his favourites like this?

“He wishes” Levi calmly said, sitting forward again, “So are you gonna take our orders or what?”

“Alright, alright. Nearly forgot about that...”

The table proceeded to place their orders and Hanji bounded off back to the kitchens.

“So who was she?” Mikasa asked, sipping at her drink.

“I know her from college.” Levi answered, still looking uninterested.

“You haven’t seen her in three years?”

“She moved away, but I guess she’s back, and has a job here now. I’m surprised if I'm honest. She’s into all that science shit. She’s totally crazy. I’d never be able to imagine her working in a place like this if I hadn’t just seen her now”

“Maybe she just needs extra money”

“Hm” Levi wasn’t really listening anymore, the conversation clearly coming to an end.

All the while, Eren was still contemplating being Levi’s favourite. His favourite what? Person to be an asshole to? Because it sure seemed like it.

Although, even if it was that, Eren realised he liked the idea of that kind of attention. That kind of attention from  _Levi_ in particular. And despite using all the will-power he could muster, Eren relented and dropped the previous anger he’d had about the way the man had been acting.

\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Okay everybody! It’s time to get back to work!” Eren’s happy mood had returned, and he was once again set on staying that way.

There was a bit of a grumble from Armin, but other than that everyone returned to work. The blond, Jean and Mikasa all disappeared back upstairs. And Levi decided to help Eren in the kitchen.

“You need someone to help you, brat. I’m staying down here. And do not try any funny shit with me, because I am not in the mood for it” Levi had actually been in a weird mood since they’d left Cafe Trost. Maybe it was the plans for meeting Hanji after she got out of work for a little catch up. Maybe he was  _happy_ , and just had a weird way of showing it.

Eren decided to ignore Levi’s dig and changed the subject, “So, are you and Hanji like, best friends or something”, the boy held his breath and waited for some kind of irritated response, but didn’t get one.

“I guess that would be what you’d call it. We’ve been close since college. It was weird to suddenly see her again to be honest, after all those years of nothing. I didn’t really realise how much I’d...”, the dark haired man trailed off, not finishing his sentence. But Eren knew he was going to say he had missed her.

“I get it” Eren tried to sound comforting, but found that his voice came out a bit awkwardly. Levi was showing an emotional side to him, and he was showing that he actually did have feelings other than boredness and irritation, and Eren wasn’t sure how to really deal with that.

“Of course you do” Levi said, with dust of sarcasm to his tone and a roll of his eyes. Eren saw it plain and clear, but decided to ignore it.

He thought back to what Mikasa had said, about how one time Eren would go and go and then go too far and actually have an impact of Levi. Eren really didn’t want to upset the man. But to be honest, he didn’t want to have a heart-to-heart with him either. He felt that would probably be one of the world’s most awkward things for him to experience. Eren kept his mouth shut.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The two worked in unbroken silence until Levi’s phone beeped. The high-pitched noise brought Eren out of a spell he didn’t know he was under, and he rubbed his eyes and averted his gaze from the dirty counter he was scrubbing at to the clock on the wall. 3PM.

There hadn’t been any words exchanged between him and Levi for two hours. How had that happened? Eren hadn’t made any stupid comments, and Levi hadn’t complained at Eren for being a brat, or for being shit at cleaning, or for just generally being a nuisance.

“Is that Hanji?” Eren guessed.

“Yes” Eren waited for Levi to elaborate, but when he didn’t Eren carried on speaking.

“You going to meet her then? I’ll go tell the other’s you’ve left if you want” Eren had thought he was being nice.

“Yeah, I can do that myself thanks” Levi gave Eren a weird look and then a glare before abandoning him in the kitchen and wandering off upstairs.

Eren felt odd. The current atmosphere between him and Levi was odd. The whole day had been odd. He realised he was going to have to tread carefully around the other man, especially if what Mikasa had said was true. Eren desperately wanted to win this bet, and to maybe piss Levi off in the process, but he wasn’t sure anymore about how far he was willing to go to win.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eren lay in his bed, listening to the quiet patter of rain against his bedroom window. It was 2AM, and he still couldn’t manage to find sleep.

After Levi had left to go see Hanji, the other’s had stayed at Mikasa’s until they came to the conclusion that dinner would be a good idea. They’d got back to Jean’s at around seven. The day had been pretty productive really. The hallway was completely clear, save for a few black sacks filled with old clothes and books Mikasa didn’t want anymore, and a trash bag. Her room was nearly done as well, and so was the bathroom. It would only take another day to finish off the whole of the upper half of her house and then they’d all move on to working in the living room, downstairs hallway, and the kitchen. Jean was very proud of his work and had squeezed Armin into a tight hug, completely unaware of how close he was to the top of the stairs and nearly falling down them before the blond yelped and shoved Jean away.

Eren thought about how Armin was starting to become pretty comfortable around Jean now, and he was now predicting just how long it was going to take before  _something_  happened between the two of them (as it was pretty obvious what Jean’s intentions were... and obviously Eren knew about Armin’s own ideas).

Eren rolled over onto his front and buried his face in the pillow, trying to clear his head of any wandering thoughts. It wasn’t working at all. All he could think of was Levi. And he had no idea why. The boy just could not keep the short, cold, angry man out of his mind. And when his drowsy mind started to move into unknown – but actually  _very_ well known – territory, Eren felt a familiar warm feeling emerge and flow south. 

And of course there’s only one thing to do when you can’t sleep. And that thing is jerk off. And with the way Eren was laying on his front, he was getting a lovely amount of friction off the bed.

Eren rolled onto his back and covered his face with his arms. He was thinking about  _Levi_. Why was  _this_  happening? It didn’t make any sense. He hadn’t exactly thought about Levi like this... apart from maybe when he accidently shoved his face into the other man’s ass on his way up the stairs. And it was a nice ass, Eren was now realising; well-shaped and damn fine in a pair tight jeans. And probably nice to grab as well...  _fuck_. And then there was Levi’s face... and hair,  _and body and voice and fuck what was going on._

Eren brought his hand to the waistband of his boxers and slipped his fingers just under the hem. He wanted to stop what he was doing right there and never think of Levi again, but at the same time he seriously wanted to just get his hand on his dick and get it over with. He let out a defeated sigh and reached down to take himself in his hand, all the while thinking ‘if this is what my brain wants, then it’s what my brain wants, I can’t argue with myself’. It was a bit of a shit excuse, but Eren was already trying to stifle moans so there was no going back now. 

\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After Eren’s little pleasure trip, he reluctantly rose from his bed and made his way to the bathroom... to clean up the mess he’d made. As he got into the hallway, he noticed that the bathroom door was slightly ajar, and that light was pouring out into the hallway. Eren realised that someone else must be up, and he really, really didn’t want to bump into anyone, given the current state he was in.

Eren turned quietly and was just about to scamper back off to his room when a voice came from behind him, “Eren? What are you doing up?”

The brunet turned his head to find a sleepy looking Armin standing in the doorway, rubbing at one of his eyes with the heel of his palm.

If Eren turned around it would mean revealing his now-dirty shirt to his friend... which was really a thing he wanted to do. So he kept his back to the blond.  _Just getting some tissues and maybe a damp cloth Armin don’t worry._  No. “Ju- just getting some water” he said, walking in the direction of the kitchen, trying to look casual.

“Okay” Armin replied, his voice sounding a little suspicious, but the boy was obviously too tired to start questioning his friend.

Eren dashed to the kitchen and filled up a glass of water half way, and then scurried back to his room, avoiding Armin’s gaze. “Night!” he called out, once he’d closed the door. Oh God, he was such an embarrassment to himself.

Eren set the glass down on the bedside table and climbed back into bed, still not having cleaned up in the slightest. He sighed, and decided that now he really was too tired to do anything about it. He’d just wait until morning, and deal with himself and his dirty bedclothes then.

_Fucking Levi, this is all his fault._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Im sorry that updates are becoming a once a week thing, i just find it hard with school and work and stuff. anyways, im trying to make the chapters a bit longer in the hopes that they'll suffice (and you readers wont hate me as much for being a bad updater)  
> anyways, thanks as always, please comment etc! ^_^


	12. Chapter 12

Eren hadn’t seen Levi for over a week now. And he was  _missing_  him, of all things. Since Hanji had been in town, she and Levi had been almost inseparable. Levi insisted that he found the woman irritating and over-excitable, but that was clearly untrue as he declined every single one of Jean’s requests at meeting up, in favour of seeing Hanji. Eren knew that this was something stupid to get annoyed over; Levi and Hanji hadn’t seen each other for years, and were just trying to catch up on lost time, but the younger boy just felt weird every time they went to Mikasa’s house and there wasn’t Levi to tell him to scrub harder and ‘stop fucking around’.

Boy, who would ever think Eren would get upset over not being criticized with one complaint after another. One of the worst things though, was that Mikasa’s house was coming along well. Which meant that they wouldn't have a lot of time left there. And that meant not a lot of time left with Levi. At the start of the summer, Eren had been dreading the whole situation and the simple thought of having to spend days at his sister’s house, cleaning. But without really noticing it at first, he’d come to anticipate his days there, mainly because of the social contact it meant with Levi.

Eren sighed and dragged himself from his bed. The second week of summer was already over, and there wasn’t really much to look forward to. Of course, he still enjoyed Armin, Mikasa and Jean’s company, but it felt like something was missing from their little group, or some _one_.

It was still early, and it looked like no one else was awake as Eren trudged to the bathroom, where he stripped off and got in the shower. The water hadn’t heated up yet when Eren stepped in, but he bared the cold stream shooting down on him and quickly washed himself. As he got out and dried off, he heard the front door click shut. There was a moment of fear as Eren listened for footsteps,  _oh God not a burglar_ , but he was brought back to reality when he heard a gentle humming noise from the kitchen, so he brushed it off as being Jean. He’d probably just gone to the store first thing to get some breakfast or something.

Eren wrapped a towel around his lower half, and sauntered out of the bathroom. He felt somewhat refreshed and better from the shower, ready to block Levi out of his mind for the day and just go with the flow of things, when he entered the kitchen and stopped dead in his tracks. Oh, so Jean didn’t go to get breakfast.

“Close your mouth you look like a fish, and stop staring whilst you’re at it”

Eren received a deadly glare from Levi, who was sitting at the breakfast bar reading something, but had looked up at Eren’s arrival. The boy felt a flush come over him as he realised his current state of dress, and that his hair was sticking up in all directions. He probably wouldn’t have cared if it was anyone else casually sitting there looking at him, but this was  _Levi_. Eren gripped the towel around his waist, suddenly afraid that it might come loose and fall. When Eren had regained a bit of composure he looked Levi in the eyes- oh my God. “Y- you, your face”

Eren was immediately distracted from himself as his gaze fell to the other’s face.

“Yes I am well aware of that, now would you mind shutting the fuck up about it, or am I going to regret coming over today?”

Evidently Levi and Hanji had been down to the beach on one of their days spent together. Levi had a red glow covering his face, and it was definitely not from embarrassment. Eren didn’t really know what to say; a sunburnt Levi might have been one of the funniest things he’d ever encountered in his life. “D- does it hurt?” he blurted out, not even thinking.

“What do you think, brat?” Eren received another look of distaste before Levi turned his eyes back to whatever he was reading.

Eren would have been happy to see Levi again in any state or mood, but this was just fantastic. Oh the mocking that the day would inevitably bring.

“So what were you humming?” Eren asked, remembering that the only reason he’d thought the intruder was Jean was because of the little tune coming from the kitchen. “Are you in a cheerful mood today for any particular reason?”

Levi sighed and closed his book, well, more like slammed it shut, “Did it not occur to you that I was reading this for a reason? Anyway, I wasn’t humming anything, and no I'm not in a good mood for any reason. Stop asking questions already”

Eren just grinned at everything the other man was saying and plonked himself down on the barstool next to Levi, “Okay, okay. But you are in a good mood today, I can tell”

“Is that such a strange occurrence to you? I’m happy quite a lot of the time, despite what the majority of people I come across seem to think.”

“Well you can’t really blame them, you do have a tendency to.. er-” Levi was giving Eren a face that the word dangerous could not come close to describing, “-snap?”

“Well maybe people should get to know me a little first”

Eren wasn’t really sure how to reply so he just got up and walked over to the coffee pot, “You want a drink?”

“Sure, oh and by the way, I do hope you remember that you’re wearing just a towel as I wouldn’t like to have to deal with your embarrassment that would follow when it drops to the floor. Which it will, because it is slipping down your ass right now as I speak”

Eren’s hands flew to his waist: the thought of what Levi had said actually  _happening_  mortified him. “Oh-” he dashed off in the direction of his room, “Heh, I’ll make the coffee in a sec”

Levi chuckled, “Please try to hide your embarrassment, your awkwardness is making me want to cringe”

Eren could only imagine how red he was, but he shot back a remark all the same, “Well at least people can tell when I’m embarrassed, you look like a tomato either way”

“Oh, impressive. I’m hurt. Now hurry up, I’m getting thirsty”

Eren rolled his eyes. Levi was back alright, and Hanji hadn’t changed his attitude one bit, which Eren was truly, truly grateful for.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“So, what made you come to visit us on this fine morning?” Jean asked, pouring himself some coffee and hopping up on the counter next to Levi and Eren. Levi had had his fair amounr of tormenting from Jean already, and now the taller boy was perched up next to his friends, looking down intently. 

“Hanji’s busy for a while, so I had to resort to you people”

“Oh how kind of you” Jean replied, giving a cheesy grin to the shorter man and sipping at his drink.

“That’s what I'm known for. Anyway, what were you imbeciles planning on doing today? I don’t particularly want to sit here all day”

“Well... Mikasa’s I guess?”

“Yes!” Eren nearly jumped up from his seat, but managed to just contain himself.

“Did you suddenly have a change of heart towards the idea of cleaning whilst I was gone, Eren?” Levi asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Er, er no. I just... I don’t know”

“Weirdo”

“Look at you two fighting like an old married couple again, I’ll go wake up the others and leave you two to it”

Both Levi and Eren opened their mouths to protest but Jean had already disappeared.

“Tch, he’s so fucking annoying” Levi let out a heavy sigh.

“Yeah” Eren replied quietly, but there wasn’t a hint of agreement to his voice. He was beginning to think he’d give anything to have him and Levi’s petty banter become a regular thing.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“I hate to say this, but I'm impressed with the progress you’ve made in my absence” Levi looked around the kitchen, eyes darting from a gleaming floor to a newly varnished table and then to the shining sink.

“Well we’re all quite proud of ourselves, if I do say so myself” Jean beamed, causing Levi to furrow his eyebrows and look away.

“Don’t be too proud, we still have work to do”

“Oh and the slave driver is back in business” Mikasa called as she left the boys in the kitchen and made her way off to another part of the house.

Armin giggled, and Jean grabbed the small blond’s wrist and pulled him off to another room as well.

“Right Eren, looks like it’s up to us to finish the kitchen off”

“It sure is” Eren was practically  _visibly_  buzzing at the prospect of the next few hours. He was anticipating all Levi’s little insults and quips and disapproving comments.

Levi gave Eren a look of confusion at his sudden excitement but carried on speaking, “I want you to clean out the fridge”

Eren’s face dropped, “What.”

“Someone’s going to have to do it and fuck if it’s going to be me”

“B- but, everything in there is going to be completely disgusting, Mikasa’s been living with Jean for months. Can’t we just throw the fridge out and get a new one?”

“You think your sister can afford that? No. Now get on with it”

Eren gulped and stepped forward, lifting his hand to grasp the handle on the fridge. He screwed his eyes shut as he pulled the door open and prepared for an onslaught of gross-ness. When his nose appeared to have stopped working, and Eren heard a little laugh from behind him, he peeked one eye open and dropped his hand from the door.

“You fucking knew you asshole, why did you make me do that” the fridge was completely empty.

“Maybe you should have higher expectations of your sister. Do you really think she’d leave a load of rotting food in her fridge?”

“Well she left a bunch of old pizza and takeout boxes around the living room so how should I know”

Levi just laughed and clapped a hand down on Eren’s shoulder. “You’re funny, but we really do have to work now”

Eren tensed at the feeling of Levi’s hand on his shoulder, and his arm twitched slightly as goose bumps began to crawl over his skin. He froze as Levi cast his gaze down to the boy’s arm, where his raised hairs were clearly giving away everything Eren was feeling. But instead of making some comment, Levi ran his hand down Eren’s arm, over the bumps, and lightly gripped his wrist.

He leaned in so that his breath was coming out hot on Eren’s ear, making the goose bumps run up the boy’s neck now as well.

“Are you cold, Eren?”, he downright shivered at that and stuttered out something incoherent.

Thoughts of that night when Eren accidently slipped up and totally got off to images of Levi in his head suddenly came flooding back. Levi took Eren’s second wrist in his other hand, and pulled him down so their faces were level. “Well, are you?”

“I-” Eren had to admit that he was finding the whole situation hilarious and arousing at the same time. Levi’s complexion hadn’t returned to its normal paleness even the tiniest bit, and there was still a slight glow to his skin. But then on the other hand, Levi was gripping both of Eren’s wrist (more tightly now), and they were inches away from each other. If Eren leaned forward just a little bit their noses would bump.

“Oh aren’t you two just the cutest!” Jean let out a squeal as he stood in the doorway to the kitchen.

To Eren’s surprise, Levi didn’t pull away, but just turned his gaze Jean, “How long have you been standing there you fuck?”

“Long enough, my friend. Long enough. Anyway, I should be off. Oh, and if you are cold Eren, I'm sure Mikasa has a sweater you could borrow” Jean turned and walked right back out, looking pleased with himself.

Eren hadn’t moved an inch, and was staring at the wall over Levi’s shoulder, trying to not pass out from the breathing problems he was currently having.

“D- do you think-”

Levi snapped his gaze back to Eren and looked him dead in the eyes, “Do I think he heard everything? Yes, probably. Do I care? Not really. Do you?”

Levi looked a bit threatening, but even if he hadn’t Eren still would have shaken his head enthusiastically.

“Good”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things needed to jump forward a bit so that i could actually get the ball rolling with erenxlevi wahoo, anyways, i have a week off now so i'll hopefully be updating a couple times this coming week yay.  
> also, sorry if this was a weird chapter ending, i dont really know what i was thinking but yh.  
> p.s. im actually thinking that this wont become a 40/60 or 30/70 armin and eren pov thing anymore, so sorry if anyone really wanted that but yeah, my bad  
> anyways~ please comment etc! thank you!


	13. Chapter 13

Now, Eren had to admit that he was 90% sure Levi was going to kiss him (especially after he smirked at the boy and leaned right in, looking him straight in the eyes).

But he just walked away, dropping Eren’s wrists and leaving the boy backed up against the refrigerator, flustered and confused.

“W- what?” the brunet questioned, bringing one hand up to his opposite wrist to feel where Levi’s grip was just seconds ago.

“What do you mean ‘what’? Our day of work has only just begun and we need to get going, and if you really are cold then like Jean said, Mikasa will have something for you”

Eren’s jaw dropped and he was about to challenge the shorter man but at the last second he decided against it and grumbled something about ‘this being a fucking joke’, before walking over to the counter to get some rubber gloves.

“Let’s just get this over with then” Eren muttered, roughly pulling on the bright yellow accessories.

“Aren’t you cold anymore?” Levi said, with an air of smugness about his tone.

“No” Eren snapped, voice coming out huffy.

“And where’d your previous enthusiasm go?”

“Can we just do this please?” Eren was not impressed with Levi’s obvious attempts to provoke him, “Stop acting all innocent; you’re being an asshole again”

“Well excuse me. I was merely asking you if you found the temperature of the room to be unsatisfactory”

“Yeah right, and that just automatically means that you have to get right up in my space?”

“Well no, but I felt like it”

“Oh, how nice for you. Did you not at all think about how that would affect me?” Eren immediately regretted the words that had just made their way out of his mouth. Nice one.

Levi regarded Eren for a moment, brows slightly furrowed before he answered the question, “Well I wasn’t sure it would affect you much at all actually, but I was wrong apparently.”

Eren’s face reddened and he looked away from the other man, “W- well, I guess it did... yeah”

“Hmm” Levi hummed, and then grabbed some cleaning supplies from the table, not uttering another word.

Eren was still completely bewildered by his and Levi’s exchange. Did that mean Levi had an interest in him? A... _romantic_ interest? Maybe romantic wasn’t the right word; Levi didn’t exactly seem like the lovey-dovey type. But there definitely had to be some sort of interest other than friendship there, right? No one is inches away from kissing someone, gripping that person’s wrists, and looking deep into their eyes without there being a tiny bit of attraction, surely?

Eren didn’t want to be thinking too much into this at all; after all he wasn’t completely sure what he himself felt towards the other man. Levi was hot. There was no vagueness about _that_. However, he was difficult to understand, and difficult to deal with. To Eren – and probably about 99% of the human race that ever came across Levi – he was just what he showed on his face... which wasn’t really a lot. But according to Levi himself, he was actually happy a lot of the time. And from what Eren could gather from the things Mikasa had told him about Levi’s emotional, no vulnerable, no _sensitive_ side, he was a lot more than what he showed on his face. A _lot_ more. If this was going to turn into something more than a dysfunctional friendship then Eren wasn’t sure he had the ability to deal with another’s feelings, let alone be a decent partner. Oh God how did this even happen.

The two of them were pretty much silent for the rest of the time they spent in the kitchen, until Levi suddenly turned to his cleaning companion to find him aimlessly running a cloth back and forth over the table, eyes glazed over slightly, “Eren you’ve been staring off into nothingness for quite a while now and I'm beginning to worry about your sanity, so please snap out of it before I dump a bowl of water over your head”

“What? No I’m fine, I-”

“Now that you’re back in the real world, I was just going to tell you that we’re heading out for lunch now”

“Oh, okay, good”

Levi peeled his gloves off and placed them down neatly on the counter, “Are you okay Eren, you’ve been quiet these past few hours?”

Eren looked up to find an actual look of concern pasted on Levi’s face, “No! I mean yes, I'm fine, don’t worry. I guess I'm just tired, maybe? I don’t know”

Levi gave Eren an unconvinced look and came over to his side, “I’m sorry about before by the way, I mean if that is what’s actually troubling you then... I’m sorry”

“Oh, um... thank you I guess”

“So it is that?”

Eren gulped and looked away, trying to hide his embarrassment. Levi just sighed and moved away from the younger male, “I’m not trying to mess with you by the way, I’m not trying to mess with your feelings. That’s shitty. I wouldn’t do that okay? Now come on, the others are waiting”

Eren stood up and followed Levi out of the kitchen, even more confused than he was previously. Levi was being nice to him. And what was that supposed to mean anyway? Messing with his feelings? Was this some kind of insight into his previous relationships? What the hell. Too many things were happening, and it hadn’t even hit midday.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Hmm? Oh, Hanji’s not working today. She’s taken a few days off to spend with some other friends”

Jean nodded to show he’d heard Levi’s answer, and leaned back against the back of the booth. They hadn’t managed to get the window table, much to Jean’s dismay. The brunet glanced over to said table and let out a dramatic sigh, “Who do these people think they are, tch, taking our table”

“Um, Jean... I don’t think they intentionally took it on purpose like that” Armin muttered, grinning at the taller boy.

“Yeah well whatever”

Armin laughed at Jean who just propped his arm up around the blond’s shoulders and smiled down at him. Eren really enjoyed seeing them like this, and more enjoyed seeing Armin so confident for once. Jean had no doubt brought that out in him.

Whilst Jean and Armin were practically cuddled up in the booth together, Eren sat beside the blond with Levi opposite him and then Mikasa sat next to Levi. The dark haired man had made awkward eye-contact with Eren on multiple occasions and Eren was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. He really wanted to ask Levi about what had happened, but just didn’t know how. He figured that the man was pretty forward anyway so if he had any intentions of talking about it then he’d just mention it later. But Eren was getting a bit impatient now, and extremely anxious, just thinking about the conversation that would occur if they _did_ decide to talk about it.

Eren fidgeted around in his seat, until he uncrossed his legs and accidently caught Levi in the shins. Eren’s eyes shot up to find Levi wincing a little, but the other man didn’t see anything, just tilted his head to the side in a questioning sort of manner. Eren assumed that he was going to get kicked right back, and was utterly stunned when he felt Levi’s foot brushing up against his ankle. Jesus Christ was this guy about to play footsie with him?

Eren must have had a bit of a pained expression on his face because Levi suddenly piped up with, “Are you okay, Eren? Do you want a drink of your water?”

The brunet fumbled for his glass and he took a shaky sip before placing the glass back down and returning his hands to the table, clasped together. When Levi _smirked_ at him though, he knew he wasn’t going to be let off just like that.

The foot playing with Eren’s left ankle slowly made its way up the outside of his leg, just brushing lightly and causing his jeans to rise up. Eren sucked in a breath and clasped his hands tighter on the table.

“Are you sure you’re okay, Eren?” Mikasa gave her brother an odd look before indicating to his hands.

“Er, er yeah. Fine. I’m fine.” Eren tried to smile reassuringly but she just shot him a skeptical look before switching her attention back to something Jean was rambling about.

Eren looked at Levi again to find that he had both his elbows on the table and was cradling his jaw in his hands, staring intently at the brunet. Eren widened his eyes in an attempt to say, _‘Aren’t you making this really freaking obvious???’_ , but Levi just smirked and moved his foot from the outside of the other’s leg to the inside.

Eren gulped when Levi began to move his foot up higher, now gently pushing against his knee. Eren pulled his legs together, causing Levi to shoot him a questioning and disapproving look before he shoved his foot between Eren’s knees and pushed his legs apart.

The brunet backed up in his seat as much as he could, trying to get away from the touch that was now making its way up his inner thigh. How the hell were Levi’s legs this long? Eren simultaneously cursed and praised the extra-long table cloth that was covering his lap: it was the only thing meaning Armin wasn’t receiving an eyeful but then again if it wasn’t there then Levi probably (hopefully) wouldn’t have started his little venture in the first place.

Suddenly though Levi’s foot was gone and Eren relaxed a bit before realising that it was only so that the man could pull his chair in closer to the table. _Oh God why?_ The pressure soon returned, and with it a whole lot more leg length. There was no point trying to deny the fact that Eren knew _exactly_ where Levi was going with this. This wasn’t flirting, this was _okay my foot’s gonna touch your dick now._ The foot creeping closer and closer to his crotch caused Eren to pull his hands from the table and ball them in his lap instead in a desperate attempt at keeping himself under control.

It was Jean’s turn this time, “Eren seriously, go to the bathroom and splash some water on your face or something”

“You look like you’re gonna throw up” Armin added.

“Yeah, yeah maybe you’re right.” Eren, relieved and thankful for the excuse, slid out of the booth, trying to be as smooth as he could whilst avoiding getting caught up with Levi.

He hurried to the bathroom and let out a groan as the door swung shut behind him. _Fucking Levi. Still messing with him. How many times was this going to happen before the day was over?_

Eren walked over to the mirror lining the back wall and leaned across the sinks to look at himself. He really did look like he was about to throw up. He gathered up some water in his hands and splashed it on his face (it was one of Jean’s better suggestions). He sighed and decided he may as well pee whilst he was in there.

He just zipped himself up when he heard a cough from behind him that caused him to nearly jump out of his skin, “ _Shit_ , when the fuck did you get there!?”

“Calm down idiot, I wasn’t watching you pee” Levi smirked and walked over to Eren’s side, “I just told the other’s I’d come see how you are”

“Well I’m fine thank you very much... no thanks to you”

“You’ve got to admit that was quite funny”

“Funny? No it wasn’t! We were in the middle of a cafe Levi! And a crowed one at that! And what made you think you could do that anyway, in a cafe or... elsewhere for that matter.”

Levi raised an eyebrow at the last part of Eren’s sentence before stepping closer to him, “You liked it whether you want to admit that to yourself or not”

“Sh- shut up. Anyone would have gotten a little... bothered by a foot right by their-” Eren ducked his head away, looking at himself in the mirror and then kicking himself mentally because of how red he’d gone.

“Anyone would have moved my foot away, but you seemed quite content with it remaining there”

“W- well , it would have been obvious if I- if I just-”

Levi gripped the front of Eren’s shirt and pulled him around to face him, “You’re stuttering Eren. Nervous?”

Eren inhaled loudly and then brought his shoulders down steadily before firmly responding, “I’m absolutely fine”

“Go wash your hands”

“What?”

“Wash your hands”

“Um... well I was about to but I was interrupted”

“Just wash them”

Eren frowned at the shorter man before walking to the sinks. When he’d finished he turned back to face Levi and held his hands out in front of him for inspection, “Satisfied?”

Levi didn’t so much as glance at Eren’s hands before he stepped forward quickly, “Not yet”. He grabbed Eren by the collar and pulled him down roughly, pressing his lips to the taller boy’s neck, just under his ear. “Definitely not yet”

Eren’s heart was beating at a definitely-unhealthy rate as Levi pulled back so that he could lock eyes with him. “Are you done yet?”

Before Eren could even answer with a squeak though, Levi had pulled him into a desperate kiss. Eren wasn’t moving at all, but letting Levi do all the work, and just as he was about to risk opening his mouth a little, Levi backed away, “Well I hope you make more of an effort next time. Now fix your shirt and splash your face again. You’re bright red”

 _Next time._ “Wh- why, what?”

“Good lord Eren, pull yourself together”, and with that, Levi walked out of the bathroom.

Eren stared at his reflection for a good while before he decided that he was alright to face everyone again, and more importantly face Levi again. What happened to caring Levi, and Levi who was worried about why Eren was upset?

Eren didn’t think he could cope with Levi at all, let alone a spontaneous, ‘ _let’s casually try and get you off under the table in a cafe’_ Levi. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> God an update two days after the last, you guys are lucky. Anyways~ ooooo levixeren -ness. i know this is barely satisfying but im not gonna take this too quickly okay?  
> (also for some reason i feel like levi would be cruel whilst playing footsie so ya know~ there may be a more... detailed game later on if you're lucky)
> 
> hope you enjoyed your reading guys!


	14. Chapter 14

When Eren sat back down he felt like everyone knew exactly what had just gone down in the bathroom. Levi was wearing a smug expression and was leaning back in his chair staring at the brunet. Eren was just glad that their food had arrived whilst he was away; it would give him an excuse not to talk to anyone.

“You feeling better?” Armin asked, making Eren jump a little bit.

“Oh? Oh, yeah. Thanks”

Armin looked a little skeptical, but smiled nonetheless before picking up his knife and fork and digging in to whatever fancy food he’d ordered. Eren lifted up his glass for a drink and peered at Levi again, who’d face had reverted back to its normal bored-looking self. No surprise there. However, Eren was still extremely scared that the man was gonna pull the same shit again and that he’d have to make a run for the bathroom for the second time with the excuse of feeling sick.

And to be honest, Eren did feel a little sick. His stomach was doing all kinds of flips and he was fidgeting and couldn’t seem to keep his hands still. Maybe he did want Levi to shove his foot back into his lap just so that both of them could go back to the bathrooms and Levi could finish what he’d started. God, Eren really, really did want that.

Nevertheless, Eren pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind as best he could and dug in to his food.

\----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The group had just left the cafe and Armin was clutching at his stomach with a grimace plastered across his face, “God, I think whatever Eren might have had has moved onto me now”

“Armin, we can go home if you want” Jean put a comforting hand on the blond’s arm; Armin was growing more pale by the second.

“I think that’s best... I don’t want to throw up in Mikasa’s newly cleaned house”

“Mmm, well let’s get going then. Come on guys!” Jean replied, trying not to sound too excited about the prospect of looking after Armin, although Eren could tell anyway.

Jean, Mikasa and Armin began walking and Eren followed them until he realised that Levi wasn’t in tow. As soon as Eren turned back to give Levi a questioning look, the man spoke up.

“Actually, me and Eren will go back to the house. We don’t mind finishing some work for you”

Eren’s eyes widened, a number of things running through his mind. Was Levi trying to get him alone?

“Well, if you don’t mind-” Mikasa started, throwing her set of keys to Eren.

“Oh course they don’t mind, Mikasa! Were you blind during the whole of lunch? Those two were eyeing each other none stop, the little love birds” Jean was chuckling to himself and if Eren wasn’t mistaken he thought glimpsed a look of amusement cross Levi’s eyes.

“Don’t embarrass them, Jean” Armin scolded, although he sounded more weak than firm.

By now Eren was growing an interesting shade of red which caused his sister to direct a kind of half-glare at Levi. “Hm, make sure you do a good job.” She said, turning to walk back towards Jean and Armin.

“You know what Levi’s like, of course he’ll, I mean _they’ll_ ,  do a good job” Jean put a certain emphasis on the word ‘job’ though and Eren wanted to crawl into a hole somewhere and never come out again because he was pretty sure he could imagine the face that Mikasa would be making.

The others left without another word and Levi huffed out a little laugh, “Looks like Jean is onto us”

Eren spun around to face the other man, “And what exactly is ‘us’. What are _we_ doing that he should be onto us about?”

Levi began to walk back in the direction of the house, “Come on, brat”

Eren balled his fists and winced when he forgot that he still had the keys in one hand and they dug into his palm. “Can we please talk about... this?”

“Okay”

Well that definitely wasn’t the response Eren was expecting. He thought Levi was going to come back with some kind of vague answer or just crack a joke, but apparently not.

Eren jogged to catch up with the man, walking beside him with his arms awkwardly swaying at his sides, “Well, I just- do you... do you? Are we?”

“Eren spit it out...” Levi paused, a considering look on his face, “...or maybe you’re a swallower”

Eren coughed to hide his returning embarrassment and carried on like Levi hadn’t just said what he’d said, “Please be serious, I don’t think I'm gonna be able to cope with all this... this stuff you’re doing”

“Stuff I’m doing? Do you want me to stop?”

Eren rubbed the back of his neck and looked away from the other man, “Not exactly” he inhaled sharply, “But I want to know what this is. I need some kind of clarity”

“Okay”

The brunet waited for the man to continue, but when he didn’t he got impatient, “Well?”

“We need to make an agreement”

“What kind of agreement? Not another bet I hope, although I’m pretty sure I'm winning that one so far”

“No, not a bet you idiot. And you’re not winning that by the way. Anyway, you have to agree that you’ll take... this seriously, and not act like some shitty child”

“For one, I'm not a child, and two, take what seriously?”

“If we’re going to be... whatever we’re going to be, then I need to know that you’re going to take it seriously. I may seem like the type who’d totally be up for random flings and one night stands, but I really can’t- no, I just. Listen. Have you ever been in a serious relationship?”

Eren thought back to the few people he’d dated in the past, none of those ‘relationships’ lasted for very long, and he guessed they weren’t exactly serious, “No. No, not really...”

Levi sighed and stopped in his tracks, head down. Eren frowned and stopped as well, “Are you-”

“I know I don’t seem like- I mean, I'm not like what I seem. I can’t be in a-” he cut himself off though, “I can’t be with someone and have a stupid barrier where we don’t tell each other stuff, alright.”

Eren didn’t really know what to say, so he just kept quiet and waited for Levi to say something.

“Now stop standing there like a fucking moron and let’s go back to the house. I'm not in the mood to talk about all this deep shit right here in the middle of the fucking street.”

“Okay”

On the way back to the house, Eren’s mind wandered back to what Mikasa had said again. Did Levi come from some terrible background? Is there something that happened to him that... made him the way he is? Levi had still been extremely vague whilst trying to explain himself and it had probably made Eren even more confused about the man than he was previously. They did need to talk, quite a lot.

When they got to the door, Levi snapped at Eren for the keys and the brunet fumbled around in his pockets for them. When he’d passed them over to the shorter male, Levi got the door unlocked and open in one swift move.

“In,” his tone was that of someone who’d Eren would guess to be a bit... nervous.

When they got inside, Levi lead the way to the kitchen so that he could get a glass of water, and Eren followed behind.

Levi practically downed the whole glass before placing in down on the table where it made a harsh knock as it connected with the wood, causing Eren to start.

Levi didn’t make a comment about Eren flinching, which meant that he either didn’t notice or more likely that he had other things on his mind.

“Okay Eren, sit down.”

The brunet complied, pulling out a chair and sitting. As soon as his back had hit the back of the chair, Levi started pacing.

“Eren, we’ve known each other, what? Two weeks? A bit over?”

“Yeah” was Eren’s response, but it was more of a mumble than a properly formed word though. Something in Levi had changed, and it was making Eren feel on edge, and a little scared.

“We didn’t see each other for a whole week”

“Yeah”

“I missed you”

“What?”

“Don’t make me repeat myself. I know you missed me too”

“Well, I guess- yeah, that’s true” Eren brought his eyes up to try to meet Levi’s but the man was still walking around the room, one fist up to his mouth so that he could chew on a finger. Eren thought that was pretty weird, and uncharacteristic, and Levi probably wouldn’t like the idea of making his hand all gross and wet. This was yet another thing that told Eren that the man was in a very different mindset that usual.

“Eren, tell me now. And don’t lie. Do you want to fuck me?”

Eren spluttered and nearly choked on thin air when he accidently breathed in too hard. “I- wh-”

“So yes”

“...yes”

“Do you want to like, just do that or actually be with me. Like properly”

Levi was usually so well spoken and clear and concise, and him saying the word ‘like’ and him sounding unsure of himself was such a weird sight that Eren felt like his chest might cave in. Levi was worried. Worried about Eren’s answer. And the boy just wanted to get up and fucking _hug_  him or something to reassure him.

“I do want to be with you... properly. And I am going to be serious about this. I’ll do whatever you need to-”

“No you won’t do whatever I need, you’ll do whatever you want to do but... okay then,”

Eren sat expectantly, leaning forward and waiting for Levi to say something more.

“I just wanted to get that bullshit out of the way before we dove into anything is all. Sorry if that was a little weird”

 _Oh yeah it was pretty weird._ Eren wasn’t so much of a moron to think that now was the time for jokes though. So he stood up and walked around the table to Levi’s side, holding his arms out in a welcoming manner.

Levi turned to regard him for a minute, frowning. “You’re such a dumb brat” he said before giving in and walking into Eren’s arms. The taller male held him tightly and Levi sighed into Eren’s warmth, “But now you’re my dumb brat... so you’re forgiven”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this was a bit shorter, but ill update again tomorrow or wednesday yay  
> p.s. also sorry for a long wait for an update im so lame oops.


	15. Chapter 15

“Okay Eren, I think we both know the other part of the reason for me bringing you here”

The brunet grinned when Levi pulled back from the hug to look up at him, “Well I was kind of hoping it’d be to finish what we’d started in the bathroom”

“Oh this began when you were still at the table, my friend. Or maybe it was in this very kitchen this morning? Or even when I saw you dripping wet in that towel...”

Eren blushed when he thought back to the incident and then gave Levi a stupid grin, “I think you’re forgetting the fact that you had a bright red face when that happened. Oh, and whereas now I'm completed clothed, you’re still a sunburnt asshat. Eren one, Levi nil”

“Oh my God Eren. Anyway...” Levi’s gaze dropped to Eren’s feet and then made their way back up to his face; “We really should be getting you out of those clothes again” Levi had now reverted back to his normal self, completely dropping the whole serious talk-thing like it hadn’t even happened.

Eren let out a shuddery laugh and brought a hand to rest on Levi’s hip, “Same goes for you”

And then Levi pushed up on his toes to kiss Eren quickly, tugging at his bottom lip softly before dropping back down again.

“Oh no you don’t, get back here” Eren said, feeling a bit shocked at how low his voice had gone without even meaning for it to.

“Oh, impatient are we?”

“Are you kidding me?”

“Of course not, Eren. I would never tease you” Levi’s eyes told a whole other story though.

Eren was about to respond with something witty when Levi spun him around and pushed him up against the wall, getting so close to him that their chests and hips were touching. A rush of air left the taller boy’s lungs as Levi pressed even further into him and he felt a hardness against his thigh that really couldn’t have been anything but Levi’s dick. Jesus, when did that happen?

Levi started to tug at Eren’s jacket, trying to pull it down off his arms. Once he got it off, he removed Eren’s shirt as well and then attached his mouth to his collarbone.

“Jeez, you don’t waste any time do you?”

Levi growled in response and pulled Eren’s hips off of the wall before slamming them back again and slipping a leg in between the taller boy’s.

Eren groaned as Levi’s thigh pushed against him, giving him wonderful friction that he didn’t even realise how badly he needed until then. He began yanking at Levi’s shirt until the dark haired man pulled back enough so that he could pull it off over his head. The item of clothing was discarded on the floor somewhere and Eren began moving forward, pushing Levi back towards the table.

Levi quickly realised what was going on and hopped up onto the table a second after he fell back against it, thanking everything and everyone that the damn thing had been cleared beforehand because if it hadn’t been then he’d currently have God-only-knows-what stuck to his ass.

He wrapped his legs around Eren and pulled him in closer so that he could get to the taller boys neck. He was happy for the newly gained height that the table gave him, as he wouldn’t have to crane his neck just to reach the younger boy’s mouth.

Eren was trying to mumble something but found it hard when Levi started to lightly bite and lick at his neck, causing him to involuntarily let out a string of moans. The dark haired man grinned against the other’s skin and brought his hands down to Eren’s pants, hastily undoing his belt, popping the button and tugging the zipper down.

Eren’s heart was racing; his brain not quite able to keep up. His hands were all over Levi, running up his sides and around his back and over his thighs, grasping wherever and whatever he could. Once Levi had got the taller male’s pants down to mid-thigh, Eren wriggled so that they fell to pool around his ankles. He kicked them off to the side and pushed Levi into a lying down position on the table.

Eren paused when he noticed just what Levi looked like, sprawled out on the table.

“What are you waiting for, brat? And stop looking at me like that”

The brunet grinned quickly before leaning over the smaller man, his face hovering just above the other’s. Levi was getting impatient though, and he reached a hand around the back of Eren’s neck and brought him down for a kiss. Eren let out an ‘oomph’ as he fell on Levi slightly, not quite able to reach the other man’s mouth without bringing his feet off the floor.

Levi just chuckled and pushed the brunet off by his shoulders, “Fuck Eren, are you trying to crush me?”

The boy mumbled a sorry, before actually remembering the point of this little exercise. He reached down to unbutton Levi’s jeans, managing to get them off pretty smoothly (much to his surprise) and threw them to join his own on the floor.

“This isn’t how I imagined I’d be spending my summer” Eren said, as he stood upright again and peered down at Levi.

Levi propped himself up on an elbow and looked up at the other boy, “You’re not who I imagined I’d be doing this summer”

Eren flushed and brought a hand up to rub at the back of his neck.

“Don’t be getting all embarrassed _now_ , you’re literally standing there in just your underwear”

“Thank you for reminding me of that”

“You’re very welcome. Now get back here” Levi reached forward and tugged at Eren’s wrist, bringing him forwards. The smaller man had now shuffled down the table a bit and was sitting up on the edge of it with his legs dangling off.

He wrapped his arms around Eren’s shoulders and Eren leaned down for another kiss. He slid both of his hands up Levi’s thighs and then up to his hips where he started to pull at the smaller man’s boxers.

“Lift”

“Oooh, assertive. I like that in a man” Levi joked, removing his hands from Eren’s back and placing them on the table so that he could push up and let the other boy slide off the last piece of clothing he had on.

Levi was thrown out of his joking mood though when Eren grabbed a hold of his dick immediately, “S-shit, Eren”

Eren smirked at the way Levi had stuttered, the way he had fallen out of his usual collected state.

“Sorry, didn’t meant to startle you”

“Shut up”

Eren was moving his hand slowly, a bit too wary of what he was doing. How did Levi like it? Was he going too slow? Should he maybe make his grip a bit tighter?

“Eren the pace at which you’re going is going to result in me not coming until I’m eighty”

“O- oh, I didn’t-”

“Don’t talk” Levi brought his own hand over Eren’s and moved his hand quicker, showing the taller boy what he wanted.

“Right”

Levi relaxed back on the table again, giving himself over to the feeling of Eren’s hand providing a steady rhythm. When he let out a small moan though he felt Eren’s hand twitch and really had to try not to smirk because he knew that would probably embarrass the younger boy even more. Levi had had his eyes closed but he peaked them open to find Eren with an interesting look on his face: something made up of a mixture of concentration, embarrassment and pleasure. Levi wasn’t going to lie, it was quite amusing.

“Eren relax, relax.” He brought a hand up to brush across the brunet’s collarbone and then trailed his fingers up his neck where he gripped the hair at the nape.

Eren leaned down for a kiss and was inches away from Levi’s face when the front door slammed shut. Eren rapidly paled and shot back up, already fumbling around for his clothes. The amount of blood that rushed from Levi’s face almost made him look not sunburnt anymore. Almost.

“Eren I forgot to tell you to lock the back door as well!” a female voice called from the hall.

“Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck” Eren now had his pants back on and was pulling a shirt over his head, “Levi what the hell are you doing! Get your clothes on!”

Levi blinked and sat up, slipping off the table and hazily looking around for his jeans. This couldn’t end well.

“What is wrong with you? I’ll distract her” Eren bolted from the kitchen, leaving Levi on his own to pull his clothes back on.

“Miksasa! Hi! Hey! You didn’t have to come back!”

Mikasa looked a bit shocked when Eren ran through the hallway to her, nearly toppling both of them over when he reached her.

“It’s not a problem. I’d rather be here than at Jean’s place watching him slave away after a sick Armin”

Eren was tugging at his shirt, trying to pull it down further. He’d momentarily forgotten about the fact that he was sporting a very-obvious boner. But the shirt wouldn’t stretch at all, and that was when he realised he’d accidently pulled Levi’s shirt on instead of his own. No wonder it felt a bit tight.

Mikasa noticed Eren looking down at himself and she gave him a suspicious look, “Are you okay? You weren’t wearing that before, I swear”

“What? Yes yes, I'm fine. And yeah I was, you just have a bad memory” Eren rushed the words out quickly, causing Mikasa to eye him questioningly.

“Where’s Levi?” she didn’t say it very much like a question though. Oh God, she’d figured it out. She always was quite quick to pick up on things. She glanced over Eren’s shoulder at the kitchen doorway.

“Err, umm, he’s in the garden! Yes, the garden! Just, mowing the lawn”

“I don’t have a lawnmower”

“Well, we borrowed one from the neighbour”

“I can’t hear anything that sounds like grass cutting”

“Well, he’s probably taking a break”

“Eren.”

Eren searched his brain for something to say. Anything to say. But nothing would come. He had no words, no excuses.

Mikasa started to walk past Eren and make her way down the hall to the kitchen. Eren spun around to find she’d reached the kitchen doorway and was standing in it with a hand on her hip.

Eren slowly walked to her side, dreading what kind of state Levi was in. He was unbelievably relieved to find the shorter man sitting in one of the chairs with his arms crossed, an annoyed expression on his face.

Mikasa looked between the two of them, like she was trying to find even the slightest bit of incriminating evidence on us.

“I don’t know exactly what’s going on here, but I'm not stupid. You two are up to something.”

Levi gritted his teeth, “I haven’t got time for this. If you came back here to clean, then go do some.”

Mikasa didn’t seem fazed at all by Levi’s harsh tone, but simply rolled her eyes, “Whatever. I’ll find out soon enough I'm sure”

Once his sister had left the room and was safely making her way up the stairs, Eren let out a huge amount of breath he didn’t know he was holding in, “Shit”

“Oh calm down, she doesn’t know anything”

“B- but we were nearly caught”

“I’m aware of that, brat”

Eren held both hands up, “Sorry, you’re a little touchy. Well, more than usual”

Levi narrowed his eyes, “I’m going home”

“What?”

“I don’t feel like doing any more cleaning today”, Levi continued, rising from his seat.

Eren lifted an eyebrow, surprised. “Whoa dude, you really aren’t in a good mood”

“Shut up, Eren.”

“W- well, what are we gonna do about...” Eren motioned between the two of them.

“Go sort it out for yourself in the bathroom” Levi replied, walking past Levi and to the front door.

“But I-” Eren tried to protest.

“Fucking text me or something later”

“I don’t even have your number though” Eren said, sounding a little desperate as Levi opened the door and stepped out.

“Get it off of Jean” Levi snapped, before slamming the door shut behind him, leaving Eren alone in the hallway.

Eren stood in the hallway unmoving. Why was he suddenly in such a bad mood? Of course it’s not exactly the most fun of things to get interrupted in that kind of situation but still. Did he have to take it out on him like that?

Eren was about to turn and go find Mikasa when he stopped himself. No. Levi isn’t getting away with that. The brunet pulled open the front door and ran out, spotting Levi straight away, walking quickly down the street. He ran after him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So writing this and The Titan Club at the same time is becoming kind of hard so sorry for such a long wait for an update :\ and i know this will probably frustrate a lot of people because goddamnit they STILL havent done anything, but sorry~~~  
> anyways, thanks for reading as always ^_^


End file.
